iRetire4Him Show 137: Jim's Plea to Retirees

Hi, this is Jim Brangenberg with iWork4Him Ministries today on the iRetire4Him Podcast. This is just a short, unscripted moment that I'd like to have with each of you, our listeners. For the last five years on iRetire4Him we've talked about the epidemic, the plague, that's really impacting 45 million plus people in our country, those faith-based Christ following retirees who've been lied to for their entire lives, lied to that their time after they retire from their daily work somewhere around 65, that their life no longer has purpose, that the only purpose is pleasure. And that pleasure will bring purpose. But the truth is that wasn't the truth.

The truth is that retirement really was a lie of the enemy to get all of the best workers in the kingdom on the sidelines sipping lemonade and eating chocolate chip cookies. Here's the reality: [00:01:00] 45 million Christ following retirees have the wisdom of the world in their heads, they know the Lord better than anybody because they've been walking with Him for the majority of their lives. You, as a retired believer, are desperately needed to not only bring about flourishing and a healthy culture in the United States of America, but also influencing around the globe. As a Jesus follower, everyone around you should be benefiting from your faith whether they believe in Jesus or not. That's the kingdom.

But everything inside of you is still changing. My father-in-law, who was 90, almost 92 when he died, told me that the Lord's still working on him every day. So here's the situation: our country's a hot mess. And mostly because believers have disconnected from the culture. We've forgotten how to love our neighbors, [00:02:00] love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. We've forgotten that our faith needs to be out there amongst those who don't have faith so that they can meet Jesus. We've forgotten that the church wasn't supposed to be about a building, that the church was supposed to be people in every sector of society loving and impacting and doing good all over the place so that God can be known.

We've gotta remember the simplicity of the gospel was that Adam and Eve screwed up a perfect relationship with our Heavenly Father, and the only way to fix that was through God's rescue plan involving Jesus who came to this planet in order to restore that which was lost in the garden. What was lost? Who lost it, and where did they lose it? That perfect relationship was lost and they lost it in the garden, and Adam and Eve are to blame, but we've forgiven them and we move on.

The bottom line is there are eight plus billion people on this planet. A couple [00:03:00] of billion know Jesus. The other 6 billion do not. How are they gonna find out about Jesus? They're gonna find out through the compelling nature of our personalities, the compelling nature of our love, the compelling nature of our relationships. Sit with them. You and me have something inside of us, that very Holy Spirit of God that is meant to be there to influence and impact others, not for our own personal gain, but for them to gain relationship with our father, our heavenly Father, who loves us so much that he was willing to sacrifice his own son so that you and me could have one-on-one with him.

So here's the problem. The problem is you've been told all your life that retirement is all about you. That retirement is, those years are your years because you've paid your dues. And honestly, I understand many of you listening to this podcast worked really hard. I don't doubt that. But you're not done. How do I know? 'cause you're not dead. If you've got a [00:04:00] pulse, you've got a purpose. When you retired, your calling didn't retire.

And the reality is this country needs you. This country needs you to start loving your neighbors, especially the ones that aren't nice to you. This country needs you to start being loving and giving, especially when you're in the grocery store checkout line. When you're searching for the best parking spot in the parking lot, this country needs you to be an example of what does it mean to be Jesus no matter what the situation, whether you're the homeowner's association president, or whether you're somebody that is working at Walmart 'cause you need to make some extra money to pay your Medicare supplement bill.

This country needs you and your faith, what you know about God that they don't know. This country needs you to find a place to plug in to make a difference That may just be in your neighborhood where there's other young families around that just need you to watch their kids. They need you to teach 'em how to cook. They need [00:05:00] you to be involved in their lives because they're not connected to their parents or their grandparents because of divorce. This country is in desperate shape and it's because the church is disconnected from culture. And what do I mean by that?

We built big buildings. We invite people in to be part of our church culture, but that wasn't what it was supposed to be. Jesus never called us to, he didn't say, go you therefore, and build big buildings. No, he said go to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth teaching them the things that I taught you. Those things are about love.

Jesus said, we're supposed to love our neighbors. Love God, love our neighbors. Summarized the entire Old Testament in two sentences. By doing that, we transform culture. We need to do that while we're doing great work. Okay, but many of you have retired. You're no longer working full-time, or you no longer get reimbursed for your work. That's okay. You still need to work with excellence. Everything you do should define and should be defined by your very [00:06:00] relationship with your Heavenly Father.

My appeal to you as somebody who's 58 going on 59, so I'm not there yet, but my appeal to you is: your Heavenly Father sent his son to die for you, not that you could be on a 30 year vacation. He has supplied Social Security through our country's administration and maybe a pension and 401k and a paid for house or wherever your situation is. God has provided for that so you could be a full-time missionary right where you're at. Maybe it's through your volunteer work. Maybe it's just through loving neighbors and having 'em over for dinner. But whatever it is, your day should be full of intentionality on how you can make an impact on your culture.

Maybe you've now got time to run for political office. Maybe you've now got time to serve in your homeowner's association as a volunteer. Maybe you now have time to volunteer at the local hospital, maybe with the local fire department as a chaplain, or maybe even as a volunteer as I'm doing now here in our great town of Marionville, Missouri. Whatever it may be, hear my [00:07:00] heart, retiree. This country desperately needs you. We need you, what God has taught you all of the years of your life.

We need your relationship with your Heavenly Father to drip out onto other people. We need you in this country to be Jesus as an example, no matter where you go. You are needed. Men and women who are retired in the United States of America, we need you to get back out of the grandstands where you're just a spectator in life and we need you to get back on the playing field of life.

Maybe you're not running the plays anymore, but you can be a coach, be a mentor. There are millions and millions of kids in this country who are 20 to 40 who desperately need a chronologically superior person in their life who's been walking with Jesus a lot longer than them, to walk and do life together.

Please hear my heart. This isn't a lecture. I'm speaking this to myself at the same time I'm speaking it to you. As an [00:08:00] iRetire4Him listener and as somebody who's considering being an iRetire4Him listener, this country needs you and your faith and your experience and your wisdom, and we need you to reinvest it, plug it back in. Be that key to fixing the culture in your neighborhood, in your city, in your county, in your state. Some of you have been called to run for political office as a governor or a senator, or a house of representative, or a local mayor, or a county commissioner, whatever it may be. Do what you're called to do.

We need people of faith to live out their faith no matter where they are. And no matter what part of culture, whether you're in education or in government work, or whether you were in education or government work, no matter where you were, maybe you worked in a church for a lot of years and now you're out in the culture, not in the church environment. You're experiencing business or maybe you're in arts and entertainment, wherever your experience was. Maybe you're in the media, [00:09:00] that experience that you have can be poured into the next generations, but do it with the twist of, Hey, here's what I've learned about God while I was doing those things, because the next generation wants a faith that's real, wants a faith that matters, wants a faith that plugs in, that's relevant to all of life.

And you as a Christian retiree, a Jesus following retiree, you know that faith is relevant to all things in life. You've raised your kids, you've had your job. You've seen wars and rumors of wars. You've experienced rumors of wars and wars at church, places you should never have. What life is about - start teaching the next generations. There's so much you can do.

I'm Jim Brangenberg. I Work for Him, but when I get to be 65, I'll retire for him as well. I don't ever anticipate not working, but I understand that my assignment may change. Your assignment has changed. You can [00:10:00] say, iRetire4Him and mean it. Know that your years between now and when you're gone from this earth and into the loving arms of your Heavenly Father, those years between now and the last day of your life, those days can have purpose. Those days can have meaning. They can fulfill, give you fulfillment.

I've run into way too many retirees that are unfulfilled, they're frustrated, they're angry because everything that meant something to them, which they got from their work, no longer means anything to them. You might see on the shelf the book called iRetire4Him. I recommend you get it. Inside we share some insights, but more so the stories of my father-in-law, Ted Hains, who lived out his faith in his retirement. That Romans 12:2 verse says it all,: "let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think," changing the way you think about retirement.

Check us out online at iRetire4Him.com. iRetire4Him.com. We've got 140 episodes or so of this podcast. [00:11:00] Please let others know about it. We're gonna be hearing some great stories the rest of this year for people that are living out their faith in their retirement. If you've got one of those stories, I wanna hear about it.

Email me. Jim@iWork4Him.com. I work the number 4 him.com. I'd love to hear from you. Until the next time, please remember this: your country needs you. Your heavenly Father loves you, and those two things put together give you all the purpose you need for the rest of your life.