There is a book that is coming to me, one that was recommended by a brother-in-Christ.  The topic of focus is “living the 4^th quarter,” and this brother encouraged me to read it NOW, before I arrived to the fourth quarter.  This will be my book I will read over the Christmas break, once essays have been read, once grades have been posted, and once I stop (for a season) focusing on students to focus on me.

The 4^th Quarter led me to look up the meaning of one-fourth, and while this search led me to a mathematical connotation, I must admit all of the math overwhelmed my brain.

Let me begin by saying the Spirit of the Father led four men to write four gospels, and since all Scripture has been given by God, useful to teach us, to show us, and to teach us, correcting our faults and instructing us how to live.  A simple reading of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 proclaims this so.  So, we must be caution in this ‘modern’ world that we do not listen to modern-day prophets who profess to be reading new revelations from God.  Yes, as Christ-followers, we must be skeptical when others talk about hearing God speak.  ALL THE INSTRUCTION we will ever need from God has already been written, contained within the HOLY BIBLE, and all revelation that we need to today can be found through Jesus.

Therefore, it’s important to understand how God interacts with mankind today (the Christian age)  within the four gospels.  FOUR.  This week in Sunday School, we are preparing to begin a study of the first gospel, and as I have begun to study The Gospel According to Matthew, this led me to consider the context of the word—four—a word that led me to think mathematical thoughts.  I know, a scary thought for me (a teacher of English) from my head to my toes.

As a fifty-nine-year-old preparing to read a new book about living the fourth quarter well & as a teacher of English who refrains from mathematical thoughts (whenever possible), the four gospels, the fourth quarter (kwor’-ter) literally means the four ends, the four corners, and the four gospels.  In the 4^th Gospel, the one written by the apostle John, we read a conversation Jesus had with Philip, a conversation about the oneness of Jesus with Father God.

Jesus speaks of His life, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His Holy Spirit.

Four verses that speak such truth.  “Truly, truly, . . .”

1. Whoever believes in Jesus will do the works Jesus has done.
2. Believers are to live a life of service, doing even greater works because of He who abides within them.
3. Followers of Jesus are empowered by the Holy Spirit; therefore, the church is a global force.   &
4. Christians have received a ‘blank check’ signed in the currency of divine power and love to use for the wherever and whenever the Spirit leads us to go, to do, to speak.

Overwhelming, right!

Christianity is the term that refers to the whole world of faith, the confession and worship of God.  As Christians, we walk through life, and as one who prepares to step into the fourth quarter, a time of reflection on one’s legacy and purpose, it’s important to walk the journey according to God’s plan.

Today, for a brief moment, let us look at math (a scary subject for a teacher of English).  In geography, we have four cardinal directions (north, south, east, & west), four regions and four corners.  As such, God’s dominion represents the entirety of the whole world.  In another writing of the Lord’s disciple, the apostle John, we read about the fourth seal—DEATH.

This was given to John, to see the Lamb break the seven seals, when one of the four living creatures spoke with a voice that sounded as thunder.  At this juncture, we are instructed to come see a white horse and the One who sat on the horse, the one who wore the crown and who conquered.  The fourth part, a thought that led me to consider numbers (feel my cringe inside my being).  As I prepare to step into the fourth quarter of my life, the analogy that causes me to think of the last quarter of a basketball game, of a football game, or even of common thoughts such as baking a pie.  Consider how a pie can be cut into four parts, defined as a number that separates the first three parts from the fourth.  Yes, four parts still make a whole.  One fourth, as in four kids playing in a park, the natural number of four means one-fourth is part of the whole, as in 0.25 (a decimal number) representing the four children at play in the park.  (It is probably a sunny day when their parents take them to the park to play.)   So, if one child of four represents one-fourth of four, then 100 children playing can also be one-fourth when divided into groups of forty.  Therefore, one-fourth times 100 equals 25 (¼ x 100 = 25) OR (¼ = 1 x 2 over 4 x 2  = 1 x 3 over 4 x 3 = over 1 x 4 over 4. X 4 = 1).  All of this means that ¼ = 2/4 = ¾ =4/16 = ¼).

Overwhelming, right!  Okay, now my brain is tired.

Maybe you are here, in this place, and you ask:  How in the world does all this math equate to anything worthwhile in relation to life and the Word of God.  Me too.  I ask the same question.

One day soon, the Lamb of God will speak these words, either individually to each one of us OR He will speak to all of us collectively as He comes back to earth to gather His church.  As a person who is preparing to step into her fourth quarter, the October 1 to December 31 part of life, it’s a humbling thought to consider.  If I looked at the clock hanging on the wall and saw the time as 3:45, then I would be three quarters of an hour passed, with only one quarter remaining of the days allotted for me to live upon this earth.  If one hour can be divided into four equal parts, then ¼ of an hour is fifteen minutes.  If twelve months of a year can be divided into four equal parts, then ¼ of a year is four.  This means that ¼ of the year is three months (12 months x ¼ = 3 months, meaning that 3/12 = ¼ of the year, making four quarters).

Therefore, if you are in the fourth quarter of live, you are living your last fifteen minutes & your last three months.  Humbling, Right!

• Step One:  Accept that Jesus is who He says He is—the Son of Holy God.
• Step Two:  Believe in Jesus as the Son of God who came to earth (God in the flesh) to make the only way to know Him (God) and to join Him (God & Jesus) in heaven when our earthly life is finished.
• Step Three:  Confess your sins that you have committed against Holy God.  This is a daily, on-going task until Jesus brings us home to heaven.
• Step Four:  Look to Jesus, yes, fix our eyes on the Savior, striving daily to live as Jesus, serving others as we live like Jesus, sharing our testimony with others we encounter.

1—2—3—4:  A Simple and Profound Gospel, the truth that must be shared, even in our fourth quarter.

• May we never lose sight of who Jesus was:  God in the flesh.
• May we never forget what He did for us:  Jesus gave his life on the cross so we could be saved.