The Message

medallion. It says, "To my son, Reverend Robert A. Schuller, on your ordination to the gospel ministry, from your father, Dr. Robert Harold Schuller, September 21, 1980."  It's a heavy medallion and a heavy chain and for years I wore it consistently. On the back of the medallion there are 3 bible verses: Luke 9:62; Philippians 1:6; and Revelations 2:10.

"Any man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven." (Luke 9:52) 

"Being confident of this one thing, that God who has begun a good work in you will carry it to completion." (Philippians 1:6)

 "Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life." (Revelations 2:10)

These three verses have led my ministry throughout the last twenty-five years.  One day when my daughter, Christina, was about three years old we were vacationing in Hawaii. At the beach, I was sitting on the sand in a pool of water about two feet deep. We would sit in these pools in the sand and just let the children play. Anthony and Christina were climbing and jumping all over me.  All of a sudden to keep from falling off of my shoulders Christina grabbed my necklace as she started to fall. When she did the chain broke and my necklace fell into the water and into the sand. I put my fingers through the sand and I found the chain. As I pulled the chain up the medallion slid off. I came up with an empty chain and I looked and looked and looked for the medallion but never found it.  I went to Radio Shack and bought a metal detector. I really embarrassed my older kids when I walked the beach with a metal detector! I spent a couple of days going over the entire area.  I waited until low tide and I went everywhere with that metal detector, hoping I could find my medallion. I never found it. We left Hawaii and all I carried back on the airplane was a chain. 

I know miracles happen and my life is about miracles. When I graduated from high school I had great difficulty reading. I learned to read in college by reading my Greek New Testament.  My Greek professor taught me how to read Greek. I listened to him and heard the way he read it and at that moment, suddenly, everything I'd tried to put together in reading came together for me reading Greek in college. I studied Greek for four years in college, continued to study Greek through seminary. Today I look through the pages of my Greek New Testament and I'm amazed at all the notes I made on the pages. I was fortunate to be able to graduate from seminary in June of 1980. I waited until September to be ordained so I could be ordained in the Crystal Cathedral. I received my ordination and I received these three scriptures and this medallion on September 21, 1980. And like I said, miracles happen!

About 5 years after losing my medallion I received a little package in the mail. The package was about two inches square and there was no return address on it, only a name. I opened it up and it was my medallion!  Someone was roaming through the beaches in Hawaii and found my medallion and mailed it to me.  Isn't it amazing how God works?

Twenty-five years of ministry, how do we define 25 years of ministry? Let me tell you how I put my sermons together.  I work and develop an outline on to a single sheet of paper. At the top of the outline I note the sermon title, the scripture and the date it was written. I put the outline in my Bible and then I preach the sermon. When I'm done I put the outline in my desk drawer and that is where I keep all of them. I counted 50 outlines so I could see what one year of sermons looked like. Then I pulled out all my sermon outlines for 25 years, and it is a lot of sermons! Also, in the past 25 years I have written some books. The first book I wrote was called "Robert Schuller's Life Changers."  I took my Dad's stories and I compiled them into a book and that was my first book.  I did that when I was in seminary. Then Donna helped me by editing "Be an Extra Ordinary Person in an Ordinary World."  Again, that book was my father's short stories compiled into a book.  That was book #2.  Book #3 was, "Getting Through the Going Through Stage."  It is the toughest book I have ever written.  It is about getting through the toughest things in life and seeing how God blesses you through those tough times.  It's a tough one. 

Then I took my sermons and I wrote a bunch of different books.  All in all I have about a dozen books. Then there is my Bible.  My Bible was given to me by my father and inside he wrote, "Presented to my son, Robert A. Schuller, with love from Dad, Robert Schuller, Easter, 1986."  "Be faithful unto death," he wrote, "and I shall give you the crown of life." (Rev. 2:10)  But my father is Dutch, he didn't buy this bible. It was given to him by the publisher and they put his name on the front of it, Robert H. Schuller.  But he thought he would give it to me anyway. So this is my Bible with my Dad's name on the cover. That is my ministry and what I have been doing the last 25 years.  You can also add in there probably a thousand weddings. When I first went into the ministry the only way I could make ends meet was to officiate at weddings.  I would be paid a few dollars to officiate at a wedding, so I did a hundred weddings a year.  Through it all, when I look at my life in the last 25 years, all of this is secondary.  All of this pales in comparison to my family: my wife and my kids, my parents, my sisters, my brothers, and you my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Today I want to give you the same verses that were given to me 25 years ago because you can apply them to your life just as well as I have to mine.  Remember what they are?  The first one is in Luke. 

"Any man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven." (Luke 9:62)

So when God gives you a vision, when God gives you a dream, when God gives you a goal just keep on striving until you find a pass through, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn that mountain into a miracle with God's help.

The second verse is in Philippians.  "Be confident of this, that God who has begun this good work in you will carry it to completion." (Philippians 1:6)

Remember, it is not you that carries it; God carries it.  When the baggage feels like it is just too heavy and the burdens are just too much, remember it is not your baggage and it is not your burden, it is God's and He will carry it for you.

Finally, the third verse, "Be faithful, be faithful to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life." (Revelations 2:10)  

Twenty-five years of ministry all about miracles!  And, God is in the process of doing miracles in your life today also!

Dear God, we pray that every single person here will see miracles unfold in their lives as they continue to fulfill the calling that you have given to them. You are truly a God of miracles, a God who touches lives, a God who continues to bring hope and goodness and peace.  So give us the faith, O Lord, to walk with you today, tomorrow and always.  Amen.