Pastor Scott Hobbs

Zig Ziglar has been inspiring and motivating people for half a century. He has written over 20 books on motivational subjects and most recently at the age of 79 wrote another great book entitled Better Than Good. Although he has experienced trials and heartaches which included the loss of his beloved daughter to cancer, he has continued to live with a fervor that consistently inspires. One of his often quoted affirmations that has helped me reflects directly the teaching of Jesus. Zig Ziglar often says, “you can have everything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want in life.”

As a man now in his early eighties and one who has lived a successful life in every respect, I believe his words are highly credible. A meaningful life is not found in selfish preoccupation, but instead in serving others. If our focus is on using our time, talent, and resources to add value to the lives of other people, we receive in return the life of significance we all seek. Zig Ziglar has illustrated this truth with his life of obvious success. I life which was built on serving others.

Jesus put it this way “Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) When you find yourself feeling sorry for yourself or whining seek out an opportunity to serve someone as Christ told us and in the process you will find a life of fulfillment.

Starting this Sunday, I will begin a sermon series on the family. Perhaps never before has there been a greater need for sound biblical teaching on this subject. Pray for me as I prepare and seek the Lord about how He would have me speak to the needs of our people. During the next six weeks I will be dealing with marriage, wives, husbands, kids, parents, and family life in general.

Also, please be in prayer for the effectiveness of our recent mass mailout to our surrounding community. Twelve thousand postcards were mailed inviting people to attend this series of messages and giving them general information about our church. Make sure you are present Sunday and available to assist those who may be visiting for the first time.

As you look to the days ahead of you this week, remember David’s postive and confident words in Psalm 23 “surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” May we live today with the same confident expectation.

American icon Art Linkletter is still going strong at the age of 94. He is the chairman of the board on two foundations and has recently co-authored a book with Mark Victor Hansen–How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life. In the opening pages of the book he reveals what I believe to be one of the secrets of his effectiveness and longevity. When asked whether he was ever going to retire he answered, “Retire to what? I love what I’m doing because I think it matters.”

We are effective when we are doing what we are gifted and called to do–ie. something we love. And we are motivated when we know we are doing something that matters–ie. something that is making a difference. If you feel your motivation sagging or your zeal waning go back and start doing the things you were uniquely created by God to do and do those things in service to God and others. Who knows maybe at 94 you will still have the passion and joy that has motivated the life of Art Linkletter.

Email subscriptions are now available on Pastor’s Scott webpage.  If you sign-up to the right, anytime an update is made to this page, an email will be sent to your address.  Please remember that that is a different site than the main First Baptist Church of Griffith website so you need to subscribe to each in order to receive all updates.

Let me introduce you to Samuel Pisar.  Mr. Pisar is a renowned international lawyer, author, and counselor to Presidents, Congressional Committees, United Nations Agencies, and Fortune 100 companies–but that has not always been the case.  He is now in his eighties, but he vividly remembers the nightmarish days of his childhood. 

Samuel Pisar grew up in a Jewish family in Poland during the days of Hitler’s efforts to exterminate the Jewish people.  At the age of 13 he was imprisoned in two of Hitler’s most notorious death camps.  Several times he narrowly escaped execution.  Once when in a line of prisoners to be executed at Auschwitz he saw a bucket and brush on the floor in a long corridor leading to the gas chamber and he knelt down and began scrubbing the floor as if he had been assigned the task.  He laboriously inched his way backward toward the door and miraculously was eventually out the door and lost in the anonymity of the camp.  Samuel Pisar has never forgotten that out of his family and the 500 children in the school he attended–he is the only one that survived. 

One of the guiding questions he has used throughout his life, since those difficult days, to help him make crucial decisions is a question that we followers of Christ would do well to ask ourselves frequently as well. It is a question that would help us to prioritize our lives and inform our attitudes.  Whenever Samuel Pisar has to make a critical choice in his life or his career his ask himself this question, ”Are you sure it is for this that you were spared?”  

Through Christ’s death on the cross, we believers in Christ have been spared from the punishment of our sins. When Christ convicted us of our sins and drew us to Him through the Holy Spirit and we responded with faith we were rescued from the eternal penalty of our sins.  He has done this for the sake of our eternity and for the sake our lives here on earth.  We were spared for the sake of a life purpose beyond the pettiness and mediocrity that often characterizes our lives.  Spared to live a life dedicated wholly to the service of others for Christ’s sake.  Next time you have to make a choice as to what you will invest your time in, what attitude you will permit to rule your thoughts, or what action you will take in a given situation, picture Jesus asking you ”Are you sure it is for this that you were spared?” (Story from Succeed on Your Own Terms by Herb Greenberg and Patrick Sweeney)          

• Sep 12 : Everything You Want in Life
• Sep 11 : Growing Great Families
• Sep 8 : Make a Difference
• Sep 15 : Subscriptions Now Available
• Sep 28 : Jesus has Something to Ask you