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Stan Ponz Celebrates His 75th Birthday!
Reflections on a 75-year journey with Christ.
Expectations about the adventures that lie before us.
All of it is powerfully relevant for every Jesus follower today!
Thanks to one and all who expressed your loving wishes to me as I reached this landmark day in my life journey: my 75th birthday.
For me, it truly is only that—just a number.
Maybe I should call this instead my benchmark day—another mile marker for my lifetime walk with Christ.
Yes, it is a road that I have traveled for many miles. I see that now, especially. But I’m confident what lies ahead for me has many more twists and turns before the mission is fulfilled—before the race is run, before the finish line is reached, before I see the Church truly awakened, assisted, and armed with training and resources to the full extent of Christ’s supremacy to announce the Good News of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, because of the Word of God alone, for the glory of Christ alone with the accuracy, clarity, and urgency of the Gospel as its great reviving reality.
That is what my life is really all about.
In that regard, it was on my birthday just a few days ago—April 7—when the Holy Spirit so clearly reminded me of Ephesians 2:8-10. From it, I found a renewed perspective that I must carry with me into the adventures that still lie ahead—reflections that have stirred me up again and stoked the fire in my heart.
But all of this is true for you, too—and for every believer in Jesus!
Here’s what it says:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:8-10)
I want to share with you what the Lord showed me from Ephesians 2:8-10 this morning, on my birthday, which is as much about you as it is about me. It is my birthday gift to you!
- Saved. While my birthday into the world is April 7, 1950, my born-again day into Christ is November 10, 1966, the day before Veterans Day that year. That happened when Carol, then a girl in high school and now my wife of almost 56 years, explained how being born again and being saved happens not by doing any social or religious good works but by placing my faith in Jesus Christ alone, who died for my sins and rose again so I could have eternal life as Ephesians 2:8,9 and John 3:16 state. So, while my physical life began in the mind of God, then in my mother’s womb, my spiritual and eternal journey with Christ started that night, the moment I trusted in Christ as my Savior!
But all of this is true for you, too—if you believe in Jesus Christ!
- Created. All that I am and all I have to give reveal the superb craftsmanship of the One who began shaping me 75 years and nine months ago. And He has never ceased to mold me to bring out of me all the strengths, abilities, personality, and passions He placed within me from the moment I was conceived.
Even within my mother’s womb, I was never a “potential human being;” I was always a “human being with potential.” Actually, it is HIS potential that’s to be revealed through me.
But all of this is true for you, too—and for every believer in Jesus Christ!
- Re-Created. However, beyond my birth stage, and infinitely more glorious, is what the Father has remade of my life because I am IN CHRIST JESUS by faith.
Even after all the sermons I have written and preached, all the articles, books, and literature I’ve written about Him, involving thousands of pages focused on what being in Christ Jesus really means for believers, my written and spoken vocabulary remain totally inadequate to express ALL that my Redeemer, Lord, and Friend means to me—and to us. He is so much more than I have yet seen!
Equally impossible is my ability to effectively declare to others the truths of all we have become as those who have been re-created in Christ Jesus. And because we have been born again as a new creation with a brand-new life and in union with the King of Glory, we have so much to give to the world.
And yet, celebrate and proclaim Him I must. I will. For the rest of my life. Forever.
But all of this is true for you, too—and for every believer in Jesus Christ!
- Purposed. Yet this transforming encounter with Christ was never meant to be an end in itself—never for my sake alone. My creation and re-creation took place to unleash a river of “good works” through me. Kingdom works — eternal works.
Redemptive works. Life-giving works. Love-spreading works. Christ-exalting works. Gospel telling works. For the blessing and reclamation of many others.
So, it has been the past 75 years. And it shall continue to be in the years ahead.
From the beginning—before anything ever existed, in the counsels of heaven—my life was destined to be at the center of who Jesus is, where Jesus is headed, what Jesus is doing, and how Jesus gets blessed. God has a wonderful plan for His Son to sum up everything under Him as Savior and Lord, and He has given me a place in it.
But all of this is true for you, too—and for every believer in Jesus!
- “Prepared beforehand.” This remarkable phrase from Ephesians 2:10 reinforces the depths of my life purpose! My past, my present, my future—all of it has already been wrapped up in the Father’s plan, all of it is meant for the Son’s glory, and all of it is being carried out right now by the Spirit’s power.
Beforehand—before I drew my first breath. Beforehand—before I ever knew about the saving work of the Savior. Beforehand—before I put my faith in Christ alone and entered this extraordinary life in Jesus. Beforehand—before today, as I begin my 76th year.
Prepared for me before I even dared to say YES to trust Christ as my Savior and then YES to His call on my life.
Prepared for me so that this “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” will be fulfilled.
Prepared beforehand. It cannot fail because it comes from the eternal counsels of the Father, focuses on the glories of the Son, and the power of the Spirit implements it.
But all of this is true for you, too—and for every believer in Jesus!
- Forward. Consequently, my one assignment is to live out all these wonderful truths. Daily. Practically. Consistently. Compassionately. Courageously. Intentionally. Enthusiastically. Expectantly. Joyfully. Unflinchingly. And ultimately, victoriously in Jesus.
One step at a time. One moment at a time. Through every trial. With every tear. Knowing that the best is still ahead. “Those who hope in Christ will not be disappointed.”
But all of this is true for you, too—and for every believer in Jesus!
Hallelujah! What an extraordinary journey with Jesus, as it continues to unfold before me with every new birthday. With every new morning. With every new breath.
However, just as I’ve repeated above,
Ephesians 2:8-10 is not about me only!
It is also about YOU!
These truths are yours to claim, too,
no matter which “mile markers” you’ve reached so far.
Today is not the “end.”
The “end” awaits us at Jesus’ feet.
So, join me.
Together, let’s pursue this unparalleled journey with Him.
