The Stages of Life

By Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

It is true that life has stages. Whether we be in the tender teens, teachable twenties, tireless thirties, forcible forties, fearful fifties, seasoned sixties, settled seventies, aching eighties, or tenuous nineties, the only question that really matters is this: are we living the kind of Christian life that incorporates Vision and Values no matter what stage we find ourselves in?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD
• Release date: Mar 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301673063

Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

Dr. Martin Tharp has been an avid student of the Bible for many years and holds a Bachelor, Master and eight Doctorates, one honorary and seven earned, including a Doctor. of Literature and two PhDs. He has been in full time ministry for over fifty-seven years and has authored forty-nine books to date, many of which are being used as curriculum in Bible colleges around the United States and abroad. He has also penned a number of gospel songs and recorded thirty-three albums as well as being actively involved in a school ministry to Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom for the past thirty-eight years, and Dr. Tharp has been honored twice by members of parliament in Ireland for their work in the Protestant and Catholic schools. He and his wife, Sharon, along with Maranda Howells, travel extensively across the USA and the whole of the British Isles holding evangelistic crusades in the churches of both countries.

Book preview

The

Stages of Life

By Martin G. Tharp Ph.D.

Copyright 2013 Martin Tharp Ph.D.

Smashwords edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes; This ebook is licensed for your own personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.. Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version. Copyright 1984, 1991 by AMG International, INC and the Living Bible Copyright 1971, 1986 by Tyndale House Publishers INC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1.The Christian Life

2.Spills

3.Thrills

4.Drills

5.Bills

6.Ills

7.Pills

8.Wills

9.Vision

10Values

Bibliography

About The Author

INTRODUCTION

In 2007, I received a number of requests to put into print the events of my years of hopelessness and how I became a Christian instead of an alcoholic like my father, three of my older brothers, one of my younger brothers as well as my older sister.

After a number of requests from Pastor’s and an intense struggle within myself, I finally wrote an autobiography in 2010, entitled Captured; From Misery to The Ministry chronicling my life from birth to the age of twenty-three, at which time I became a child of God. During that process an amazing thing happened, my memory of events long forgotten once again became crystal clear in my mind.

As I wrote, about the various stages of my life it dawned on me that we all have either had, or will have, experiences of every single aspect of The Stages Of Life which I have written about in this book.

Although I was sorely tempted to make it personal, and except for the fact that I have long passed the Spills, Drills, Thrills, Bills, Ills and Pills phases and I am now in the Wills, Stage of my life, I have, for the most part, avoided that temptation and tried valiantly to stay on target.

I purposely delayed the Vision and Values chapters until the last two in the book simply because I wanted to attempt to make my readers aware of the fact that unless we recognize and deal with the pitfalls, we will never enjoy the victories that Vision and Values can inject into our lives.

It is my desire that this book on The Stages of Life will inspire, or at least stir the mind of those who read it, to an awareness of the pitfalls which are conceivable and the victories which are entirely possible! And it all begins with The Christian Life!

Chapter One

The

Christian Life

The very first aspect in The Stages of Life for a religious person of any age is to learn obedience and faithfulness in order to take full advantage of the benefits which are an inheritance right of all who live The Christian Life.

Although this books deals with and alludes to The Stages Of Life according to age, natural as well as spiritual, the simple fact is that regardless of whether you are young or old, sinner or saint, life will continue on until we reach the appointed hour that each of us must one day face.

The Scriptures clearly state that there is an appointment for ALL men, young or old, not just Christians! And that appointment is not only in regard to death, but the irreversible responsibility to face the judgment after death;

"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27).

I am well aware of the fact that all of us have had a history, prior to our salvation experience and for me personally, after living fifty-three years of life on the this earth as a Christian, I am appalled at the twenty three-years of history that I had accumulated before I accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord of my life. (See Authors Book; From Misery To Ministry.)

Although I wrote an autobiography about those twenty-three years of my pre-Christian life, the process resurrected a multitude of recollections which held very few memories that I actually wished to recall. However, at seventy-six years old and still serving the Lord induces in me a tremendous variety of nostalgic moments.

Some of those memories may have brought a twinge of pain, but at the same time they reminded me of the benefits I have derived from trusting that every outcome was just another stepping stone on this spiritual, though sometimes perilous journey. The first valuable lesson I learned as a new Christian was not to beat myself up for the things I had been guilty of during the years I spent reveling in sin and unbelief!

I made the statement on several occasions that God could not and would not hear my prayers and therefore I could not become a Christian because of the things I had done, but the young man who witnessed to me on a regular basis, looked me in the eye on one of those outbursts and asked me this question;

"Why do you think Jesus was crucified? Do you think He only died for nice people? It matters little to Him what you have done, He is well able to forgive you and make you into a Christian! I have noticed that some of the men you have fought with are now your friends. Does that mean they have forgiven you for attempting to beat their brains out? You may have friends who are capable of forgiving you, but they cannot change you or help you conquer your penchant for trying to solve all your problems with your fists! If those friends can forgive you, don’t you think that Jesus can and will forgive you and make a new creation out of you? And unlike your friends, He will then forget about your past!"

Although his question and statement made me angry, these words came out of me before I thought!

"None of my friends are any better than I am and they sure as xxx do not have the power to forgive, much less forget!"

The quick response from my Christian friend was this;

"The friends you have fought with may say they forgive, but they can never forget. God not only can, He will!"

Once again he made me angry as he dared to just stand there for a moment and grin at me before he cited the following Scriptures to me.

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12).

"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back" (Isa. 38:17).

"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19).

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8:10-12).

The revelation of the fact that God not only has the ability, but He also made the promise, not once but four times in Psalms, Isaiah and Micah, as well as in the book Hebrews which is a fulfillment of the prophecy from the 31st chapter of the book of Jeremiah. Assures us that He would not only forget, He would do the following four things;

1. He will cast them behind His back,

2. He will cast them into the sea,

3. He will put them as far as the east is from the west,

4. He will obliterate them from His memory!

The power of all those statements and the peace contained in the promises finally penetrated my thick skull!

The full realization hit me that any sin that has been forgiven by our God, will NEVER be used or brought against us by the Powers of Heaven, therefore, what does it matter what men think of us? There is an old Gospel song representing the attitude of God which made this statement in one of the verses;

"What sins are you talking about? I don’t remember them anymore!"

The Christian Life should be the only life which holds any interest for us, or that could sway our thinking or be allowed to direct our pathway!

The Christian life has obviously been delivered to us in stages and chronicled by the Apostle Paul as he wrote a letter to the Ephesian Church acknowledging the fact that he had heard of the growth and operation of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and testifies of their generous demonstrations of love unto the saints! Evidently it was not directed solely to the saints at Ephesus, but to ALL THE SAINTS!

"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers" (Eph. 1:15-16).

The Apostle Paul has placed the emphasis here on some distinct aspects of The Christian Life, with the Lordship of Jesus as the central object of that faith. The One who alone is God exemplified in three persons, is the One who reserves and deserves the right to rule. Paul makes the act of receiving salvation crystal clear in this statement to the Church at Rome which is often referred to as; The Roman Road to Salvation.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed" (Rom. 10:9-11).

If you are a Christian, I am sure you must have read the short but powerful story of the prayer meeting that Paul and Silas had in the jail cell which resulted in Devine deliverance by an Angel of God as well as another clear and concise testimonial to the jailor describing the simplicity of finding salvation through Jesus.

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:30b-31).

In my fifty-one years of full time ministry I still cannot understand why some