Golden 50

This past week was a week of celebrations for the Broadheads.

Last Sunday they celebrated 52 years of marriage.

Wednesday, Brother Broadhead was recognized in Mobile, Alabama for 50 years of ordained ministry with the Assemblies of God.

And on Friday, Brother Broadhead celebrated his 74th birthday.

What a privilege to be able to join with former pastors of this church in their celebrations.

Brother Ron and Sister Cynthia pastored here from 2000 to 2007.

In particular, we want to celebrate Brother Broadhead’s 50 years of ordained ministry in the Assemblies of God.

As I said, Wednesday, Brother Broadhead was recognized in their home district of Alabama, in Mobile, Alabama.

Here is a video clip of that event.

PROCLAIM VIDEO

Can we have them come and give them our own recognition of their achievements?

Have them come.

Read Certificate.

Present with flowers.

Present card.

Applaud with appreciation.

Dr. Rakes, president of Evangel University, an Assemblies of God university in Springfield, MO, spoke right after Brother Broadhead was recognized.

He said the last time he had preached in the Alabama District, the title of his message was “$100 and a Sheet cake.”

I don’t know the content of that message, but that is what we have for the Broadheads.

A $100 bill in the card,

and a sheet cake waiting in the Connect.

Brother Broadhead, aren’t you glad that you didn’t serve in ministry for OVER 50 years for such trivial things?

Can we give them another round of applause in appreciation as they return to their seats?

Whatever appreciation we might show:

If we could give the Broadheads a million dollars and all the possessions they could ever use, these things are still trivial compared to standing before God and hearing Him say the words Jesus spoke in:

Matthew 25:23 (KJV) … Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Brother and Sister Broadhead, thank you for your years of faithful service to the Kingdom of God and especially for the 7 years you served at this church.

This church is here today because of your faithful service here in Blairsville, GA.

In a few minutes we will enjoy a meal together and cut that sheet cake.

But before we do, I would like to share a few words and then have us join in partaking of the Lord’s Supper together.

The Number “Fifty”

50

50 years of ordained ministry!

Wow!

50 is a significant number in the Bible.

The fact that it is mentioned about 150 times in the Bible testifies to its significance.

One source says:

The number 50 appears throughout the Bible, representing unity, completeness, and new beginnings.

It holds spiritual significance that impacts various aspects of the biblical narratives.

From the census taken in Numbers to the teachings in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the number 50 draws our attention to the magnitude of God’s plans and His faithfulness to His people.

In the OT, we find 2 instances of the number 50 that really stand out.

First there is the command of of the 50 years of Jubilee:

Leviticus 25:8–13 (LSB) ‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. 9 ‘You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. 10 ‘You shall thus set apart as holy the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own possession of land, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 ‘You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow; you shall not reap what grows of its own accord; you shall not gather in from its untrimmed vines. 12 ‘For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its produce out of the field. 13 ‘On this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to his own possession of land.

So Jubilee is a time of debts being forgiven.

Land being returned to its original owners.

A year of celebration.

This seems appropriate for the Broadheads.

They should be able to enjoy meals without having to plant or harvest — they have done that for OVER 50 years actually.

The other significant instance of 50 in the OT was Pentecost.

Leviticus 23:15–16 (LSB) ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the [Passover] sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 ‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall bring a new grain offering near to Yahweh.

This is what is called in the Feast of Weeks.

Deuteronomy 16:9–11 (LSB) “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 “Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as Yahweh your God blesses you; 11 and you shall be glad before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female slaves and the Levite who is within your gates and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where Yahweh your God chooses for His name to dwell.

In the NT this Feast of Weeks was also known as Pentecost.

At the time of Jesus this was a day of celebration and joy for the end of the barley harvest. It also included offering the first fruits of the new wheat harvest.

But, as NT believers, the greater significance for us is the role the number 50 plays in our understanding of the Holy Spirit.

We are currently in the middle of a 50 day period between a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus and the a celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

WE celebrate Pentecost as the day the Holy Spirit was initially poured out in Acts 2.

Pentecost is literally a celebration of 50.

In fact, that’s what the Greek word means — 50.

So, it seems appropriate that the Broadheads are celebrating 50 years of ordained ministry during the 50 days between the Resurrection and Pentecost.

The Lord’s Supper

But, of course, we could not celebrate Pentecost without the way of salvation being made for us by the substitutionary death of Jesus.

First comes salvation.

THEN comes the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

First comes repentance and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus.

THEN comes the overflow of the Spirit’s operation in our lives.

We commemorate our salvation by partaking of the Lord’s Supper together.

By remembering the cost of our salvation.

Before we partake of the Lord’s Supper that remembers the giving of the body and blood of Jesus, we need to prepare ourselves.

As 1 Corinthians 11:27–28 (NLT) [reminds us] … anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.

So this morning, let’s spend some time allowing the Holy Spirit to accomplish another work Jesus said He would do in John 16:8 revealing and convicting of sin.

The Complete Biblical Library tells us this word for “convict” used in John 16:8 speaks of the “goal [of] restoring or an establishing of a relationship.”

If we partake of the Lord’s Supper it meanss we have repented of our sins and surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus.

Have you done that?

If not, I urge you to do it right now.

From your heart, pray:

Lord, please forgive my sins.

I recognize that You shed Your Blood to wash them away.

Help me hate them as much as You do so that I continually turn away from them.

Come into my life as the Resurrected Lord of Glory.

Risen from the dead, I proclaim You as King and Lord over my life.

In Jesus’ Name I pray.

Maybe you would say, Pastor, I did that years ago.

Where are you at with Jesus right now?

Have you done what 1 John 1:9 [says to do?] … if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Let’s do that before we partake of the Lord’s Supper together.

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to reveal our sins (because none of us are perfect) and then let’s repent of the sins He reveals.

Lord, please forgive me of sins of omission and commission.

Cleanse me from sin in my thinking, my words, my attitudes and my actions.

All invited.

You don’t have to be a member.

Break off a piece of the Bread.

Take a cup.

Hold until we can all partake together.

Join with your family at the front (sit on the front chairs).

Bread (Brother Barry Wagner)

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 (NLT) For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Cup (Brother Ron Broadhead)

1 Corinthians 11:25 (NLT) In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Jesus is Coming

1 Corinthians 11:26 (NLT) For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

Jesus is coming!

Until He does, let’s pray for the Rain of the Holy Spirit to fall on us and empower us to live overcoming lives.