Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Love of God, Part 2

Transcript

The Love of God, Part 2 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: There are three words at the heart of today's message.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Not a slogan, not a bumper sticker, but a declaration
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  Speaker 1: that has the power to reorient your entire life.
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  Speaker 2: God is Love.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: It sounds so simple, but how do we wrap our
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: minds around the love of God today? On Insight for Living,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Chuck Wendall surveys the Bible, guiding us toward an understanding
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of divine love that's both theologically honest and deeply personal.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Whatever you're carrying today, whatever you've done or left undone,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: this is for you. Chuck titled his message the Love
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  Speaker 1: of God.
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  Speaker 2: On your way toward the New Testament, stop off at
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  Speaker 2: Jeremiah chapter thirty one, verse three. The Lord appeared to
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: him from Afar, saying, I have loved you with an
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: We're getting close to unconditional here, aren't we. There are
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  Speaker 2: moments I'm gonna be real candid here and vulnerable. There
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  Speaker 2: are moments I'm sort of overwhelmed with the love of
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  Speaker 2: my wife for me, and she's been far more faithful
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: to tell me about her love for me than I
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  Speaker 2: have to say it to her. It was a few
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  Speaker 2: weeks ago. It was a hot summer day and her
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: car had gotten dirty in the rainstorm, and the clouds
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: had gone away and sun had come. It was Saturday morning,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: and I thought, I need to get her car cleaned
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  Speaker 2: up for her. So I sat down in her car
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  Speaker 2: and I could smell her perfume that lingered in her car,
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  Speaker 2: and in one of those unusual moments, I just I thought, man,
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  Speaker 2: I love this woman. So I got a little posted
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  Speaker 2: and I write on it I love you. And I thought, okay,
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  Speaker 2: well i could do better than that, you know, And
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  Speaker 2: so I'm gonna write a little bigger so she won't
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  Speaker 2: miss it. And I wrote I love you, and I
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: underscore it love. And then I thought, well, she I'm
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  Speaker 2: gonna fill the whole page. I did, I love you,
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  Speaker 2: And I just filled the whole thing, and I stuck
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  Speaker 2: it on her dashboard. So I took the car to
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  Speaker 2: have it cleaned, and forgot that I'd stuck it on
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  Speaker 2: a dashboard. And so I mean those people cleaning that car, Boy,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: did they clean that car? It just and I got
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  Speaker 2: back in it, and the guy who was giving me
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  Speaker 2: the keys at this little joint said, hey, nice note,
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  Speaker 2: what may not surprise you is about three weeks ago. Well,
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  Speaker 2: about three weeks later, which was yesterday morning. I got
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  Speaker 2: in the car to do it again, and that note
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  Speaker 2: still on the dashboard. Why Because there's something about knowing
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  Speaker 2: your loved that covers up everything else. It's an everlasting love.
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  Speaker 2: And he writes that love note to you in a
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  Speaker 2: dozen different ways. It's just the world being what it is.
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  Speaker 2: We misreading it because the culture teaches us that if
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  Speaker 2: things are going well, then that proves somebody loves us
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: with God, whether it is well or hard, whether it
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  Speaker 2: is life or death, whether you feel like it or
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: deserve to hear it, or on the opposite extreme. You're
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: the last one he ought to be saying it to,
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  Speaker 2: certainly in your neighborhood. It's still true. He loves you.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: It's a love so great that he put his son
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  Speaker 2: in a cross for us. You talk about love. John
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  Speaker 2: Chapter three, John Chapter three. Here it is verse fourteen.
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  Speaker 2: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
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  Speaker 2: so must the son of Man be lifted up, so
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  Speaker 2: that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. I'll
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  Speaker 2: watch closely. Imagine it. Imagine it, Dad's imagine it. Mothers.
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  Speaker 2: God so loved the world that he gave his only
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  Speaker 2: begotten son. He gave his son to whom to the
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  Speaker 2: world that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but
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  Speaker 2: have eternal life. How good is that He so loved
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  Speaker 2: us that he knew there could never be a relationship
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  Speaker 2: as long as we operate on our own. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: look at our lives. You talk about a mess, you
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  Speaker 2: talk about baggage and garbage. We could know the secrets
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  Speaker 2: of the people in this room, there'd be scandals spread
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  Speaker 2: all over the city. And God knows all of the secrets.
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  Speaker 2: And he hasn't yet regretted putting his son on that
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  Speaker 2: cross for us. Why because it's the only way he
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  Speaker 2: could have a relationship. When you love someone, you want
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  Speaker 2: a relationship with them. He so loved the world. Are
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  Speaker 2: you part of the world? Last time I checked. If
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  Speaker 2: you wonder, do this, and if you feel air, you're
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  Speaker 2: part of the world. Okay. If you question that, do
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  Speaker 2: it in a mirror. If a mirror FOG's over, you're
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  Speaker 2: part of the world. Okay, You're alive. He so loved you.
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  Speaker 2: He didn't loan you his son. He didn't make a
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  Speaker 2: bargain that if you clean up your life, his son's
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  Speaker 2: death will help you out. He gave his son, He
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  Speaker 2: gave his son. You have a son, you have a daughter.
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  Speaker 2: Imagine that. I think I love people deeply. Until I
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  Speaker 2: think about that. Chances are good I wouldn't sacrifice my
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  Speaker 2: son or daughter for any of those people. God did
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  Speaker 2: it for all of us. He so loved you and
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  Speaker 2: me that he gave him so. Then what so that
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  Speaker 2: we will never perish? But on the other hand, have
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  Speaker 2: life like him, eternal kind of life. And I left
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  Speaker 2: out the most important part. Whoever believes in him. That's it.
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  Speaker 2: Don't have to clean up your life. You can't if
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  Speaker 2: you tried. You have to believe in him. That's called
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  Speaker 2: a gospel. That's good news. He died for you on
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  Speaker 2: the cross, and you believe in him, you have eternal
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  Speaker 2: life with God and a whole new beginning starts from
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  Speaker 2: the inside out, and Goodness knows we need help from
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  Speaker 2: the inside out. You say, but I'm not a follower
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  Speaker 2: of Jesus. How can I be sure of that? Listen
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  Speaker 2: to the words of another. He writes this. I recently
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  Speaker 2: overheard a talk show host attempting to give a caller
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  Speaker 2: an ego boost. God loves you for what you are,
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  Speaker 2: you must see yourself as something special. After all, you
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  Speaker 2: are special to God. But that misses the whole point.
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  Speaker 2: He writes, God does not love us for what we are.
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  Speaker 2: He loves us in spite of what we are. Now
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  Speaker 2: there's a little hope. You don't have to measure up
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  Speaker 2: for him to say you're among those that are loved.
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  Speaker 2: It's because you can't measure up that makes his love
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  Speaker 2: so special. You're not the one special. I'm not the
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  Speaker 2: one that's special. God is special, His son is special.
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  Speaker 2: It is only his love and his grace, this man
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  Speaker 2: writes that gives our lives any significance at all. Maybe
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  Speaker 2: you're thinking it's a pretty harsh analysis to say there's
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  Speaker 2: nothing special about me. And in case that's your response,
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  Speaker 2: look at Romans chapter three. This is a good sort
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  Speaker 2: of Well, it's an autopsy. I'm just gonna go ahead
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  Speaker 2: and say it. It's an autopsy of our inner being.
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  Speaker 2: It cuts down where where no surgeons scalpel can reach.
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  Speaker 2: And in case you need the reminder, look at what
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  Speaker 2: it says in verse ten of Romans three. As it
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  Speaker 2: is written, there's none righteous, not even one there's none
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  Speaker 2: who understand. There's none who seeks for God. All have
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  Speaker 2: turned aside. Together they have become useless. There's none who
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  Speaker 2: does good that means in our own flesh, not even one. Now.
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  Speaker 2: The autopsy, the throat and open grave. With their tongues
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  Speaker 2: they keep deceiving fourteen. Their mouths are full of cursing
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  Speaker 2: and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction
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  Speaker 2: and misery are in their paths. In the path of
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  Speaker 2: peace they have not known. There's no fear of God
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  Speaker 2: before their eyes. Now, I wanted that to be the
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  Speaker 2: black backdrop, the dark truth before you look at Romans
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  Speaker 2: five to eight. Look at this in light of all
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  Speaker 2: of that, all of the things he has said about
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  Speaker 2: the throat, the tongue, the lips, the mouth, the feet,
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  Speaker 2: the path, all of them wrong direction, wrong motives, wrong actions.
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  Speaker 2: But look at verse eight of Romans five, God demonstrates
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  Speaker 2: his own love. There it is again he demonstrates his
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  Speaker 2: love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
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  Speaker 2: Christ died for us. That is the brilliant diamond that
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  Speaker 2: sits in the backdrop of Romans chapter three, and it
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  Speaker 2: is resplendent in beauty. It stands in stark contrast to
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  Speaker 2: who we are and to how we respond in life,
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  Speaker 2: and to well.
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  Speaker 1: It just.
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  Speaker 2: It's almost more than we can take in. We need
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  Speaker 2: to get our theology straight. When it comes to our culture.
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  Speaker 2: No one is righteous, No one understands with our divine assistance,
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  Speaker 2: No one seeks God voluntarily, no one turns toward him.
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  Speaker 2: We all, in our nature turn away from him. And
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  Speaker 2: you'll always have that nature turning away from him. At
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  Speaker 2: the weak moments. You will find yourself doubting him and
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  Speaker 2: resisting his will. And yet he loves us in spite
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  Speaker 2: of all the baggage and garbage we bring out of
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  Speaker 2: our culture and life before him. Well, I decided to
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  Speaker 2: do something very different because I think some of you
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  Speaker 2: might remember it better if I do it this way.
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  Speaker 2: I want to read you a story, and that I
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  Speaker 2: want to read you a statement, and I want you
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  Speaker 2: to hear the story as if you're hearing it for
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  Speaker 2: the first time. So I'm not going to tell you
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  Speaker 2: where it is. I just want you to hear the story,
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  Speaker 2: and I want you to put yourself in the story.
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  Speaker 2: It's a story of a father's love on behalf of
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  Speaker 2: a son who didn't deserve it and had spurned it,
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  Speaker 2: But the father never walked away. Put yourself in the story.
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  Speaker 2: There was once a father who had two sons, the
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  Speaker 2: younger and said to his father, father, I want right now,
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  Speaker 2: what's coming to me? So the father divided the property
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  Speaker 2: between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed
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  Speaker 2: his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined
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  Speaker 2: and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had
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  Speaker 2: gone through all his money, there was a bad famine
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  Speaker 2: through that country, and he began to hurt. So he
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  Speaker 2: signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to
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  Speaker 2: his fields to slap the pigs. He was so hungry
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  Speaker 2: he would have eaten the corn cobs in the pig slop,
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  Speaker 2: but no one would give him any. That brought him
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  Speaker 2: to his senses. He said, all those farm hands working
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  Speaker 2: for my father sit down to three meals a day,
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  Speaker 2: and here I am starving to death. I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: go back to my father. I love that line. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not going to go back to my home, to my neighborhood,
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  Speaker 2: to my room, to my friends, to my bed, to
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  Speaker 2: the place of comfort. Right and get a shower, get
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  Speaker 2: cleaned up, I'm going to go back to whom my father.
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  Speaker 2: That's a father's love never dawns on him that he can't.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to go back to my father. I'll say
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  Speaker 2: to him, Father, I've sinned against God, and i've sinned
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  Speaker 2: before you, and I don't deserve to be called your son.
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  Speaker 2: Take me as on as a hard hand. He got
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  Speaker 2: right up and went home to his father, says again.
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  Speaker 2: While he was still a long way all the great
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  Speaker 2: old standing there waiting, realizing it's his boy. While he
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  Speaker 2: was a long way off, his father saw him, his
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  Speaker 2: heart pounding. He ran out, embraced him and repeatedly kissed him.
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  Speaker 2: Is that good?
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  Speaker 1: Or what?
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  Speaker 2: Wat's this happen? Now? The father he's all over the boy,
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  Speaker 2: and this boy stinks. This boy's dirty. And he starts
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  Speaker 2: his speech. Father, I'm sending it God, I've send before you,
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  Speaker 2: and I don't deserve Stop, said the dad. Father wasn't listening. You.
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  Speaker 2: Call to the servant, said quick, bring a clean set
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  Speaker 2: of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on
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  Speaker 2: his finger and sandals on his feet. Get that grain
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  Speaker 2: fed heifer and we'll roast it. We're going to have
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  Speaker 2: a feast. We're going to have a wonderful time. My
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  Speaker 2: son is here, given up for dead and now alive,
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  Speaker 2: given up for loss and now found, and they began
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  Speaker 2: to have a wonderful time. And I'm crazy about that
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  Speaker 2: story because that's you and me in our worst moment,
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  Speaker 2: feeling like we ought to run in the other direction,
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  Speaker 2: knowing we should go back to the one who made us.
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  Speaker 2: And what draws us to him is his love for us.
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  Speaker 2: You love for us, and nothing could separate us from
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  Speaker 2: that love. Listen to the statement with God on our
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  Speaker 2: side like this, how can we lose if God didn't
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  Speaker 2: hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing
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  Speaker 2: our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending
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  Speaker 2: his own son. Is there anything else he would gladly
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  Speaker 2: and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle
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  Speaker 2: with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who
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  Speaker 2: would even dare to point a finger? The one who
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  Speaker 2: died for us, who was raised to life for us,
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  Speaker 2: is in the presence of God at this moment, sticking
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  Speaker 2: up for us. You think anyone is going to be
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  Speaker 2: able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love?
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  Speaker 2: There is no way not trouble not hard times, not hatred,
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  Speaker 2: not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying, threats, not backstabbing, not
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  Speaker 2: even the worst sins listed in the scriptures. None of
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  Speaker 2: this phases us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced
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  Speaker 2: that nothing, nothing, living or dead, angelic or demonic, today
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  Speaker 2: or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable, Absolutely nothing
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  Speaker 2: can get between us and God's love because of the
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  Speaker 2: way Jesus, our Master, has embraced us. Amen, how marvelous,
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  Speaker 2: how wonderful is our Savior's love for us. We've sung
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  Speaker 2: it since little kids. Jesus loves me?
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  Speaker 1: What this?
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  Speaker 2: I know why? God? The Bible tells me so all
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  Speaker 2: our lives, and here we are, adults still doubting it.
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  Speaker 2: I have poured with passion myself into this message, and
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  Speaker 2: it's time for you to respond. Okay, if you really
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  Speaker 2: believe that God loves you, stand to your feet right now,
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  Speaker 2: Just stand there. Okay, I'm gonna have to hold you
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  Speaker 2: back right now. If you're sitting in a wheelchair and
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  Speaker 2: you can't stand, lift your hands up. Here we go.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be the greatest altar call in the
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  Speaker 2: history of Stonebriar Church. Right now, say it after me.
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  Speaker 2: God loves me. Say it like you mean it. God
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  Speaker 2: loves me together. God loves us, God loves no matter what.
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  Speaker 2: God loves us. I am loved by God. Listen to me. Listen.
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  Speaker 2: In the darkest night, when the bottom is dropped out
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  Speaker 2: of your life, remember what you said. God loves you.
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  Speaker 2: There will never be a time in your existence when
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  Speaker 2: He will stop loving you. Now the part that some
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  Speaker 2: of you would have to say, for the first time,
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  Speaker 2: I believe in Jesus Christ as my savior, say that
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  Speaker 2: I believe in Jesus Christ as my savior. The reason
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  Speaker 2: that's significant is because apart from him, you can't relate
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  Speaker 2: to the one who loves you. And he waits, He
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  Speaker 2: waits patiently, and some of you, for the first time
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  Speaker 2: in your life had made a statement like that. God
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  Speaker 2: bless you for that. God loves me. Here we go again.
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  Speaker 2: God loves me, God loves us. I love you. God
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  Speaker 2: loves you. Thank you Lord for loving me. Will you
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  Speaker 2: please remember this When everybody's gone home, you're alone and
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  Speaker 2: nobody's around, the sun has gone down, and your mind
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  Speaker 2: begins to play tricks on you, and the enemy says
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  Speaker 2: you can't believe that you just said it. And you
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  Speaker 2: have never told yourself more truth than you did in
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: those three words. We've sung it since we were kids.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells
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  Speaker 2: me so, our Father. Today we have needed to hear this,
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  Speaker 2: and we embrace it. It is a truth we have
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  Speaker 2: taken for granted, to the point that it no longer
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  Speaker 2: has impacted us as it should. Thank you for your unconditional, undying,
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  Speaker 2: everlasting love. Thank you that it pervades our being. It
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  Speaker 2: is at work within us, whether we are sleeping or awake,
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  Speaker 2: whether we are obeying or disobeying, whether we are strong
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  Speaker 2: or weak, whether we are healthy or sick, whether we
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  Speaker 2: are in the places we wish to be, or find
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  Speaker 2: ourselves in places we feel awkward, uneasy, like a hospital,
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  Speaker 2: like a funeral home, like all alone, and we have
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  Speaker 2: just come through a failure and we're broken. Remind us,
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  Speaker 2: oh God, that you love us, and may we live
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  Speaker 2: in light of that in such a way that it
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  Speaker 2: does make a difference. Are The most important thing about
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  Speaker 2: us is what we think about you, And today in turn,
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  Speaker 2: we love you. In Jesus' name, We pray. Everybody said, Amen.
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  Speaker 1: The most important thing about you. Isn't your failures, your history,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: or what you think of yourself. It's what you think
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  Speaker 1: about God and what He thinks about you. Today, Chuck
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  Speaker 1: Swundaul reminded us he loves you forever and without condition.
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  Speaker 1: Our topic is the love of God, and it's just
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  Speaker 1: one of twelve attributes in this series called How Great
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: is Our God? To explore this essential topic on your own,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Insight for Living On offers practical Bible study tools that
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: will help you do exactly that. In fact, there's a
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: bundle of resources for this series, so the journey doesn't
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: end when the program does the searching. The Scripture's Bible
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Study Workbook is one of those tools. It's been carefully
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: crafted for personal discovery, the kind of resource that opens
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: up your Bible in a whole new way, with guided questions,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: contextual notes, and room to record what God speaks to
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  Speaker 1: you directly. It's a Bible study that stays with you.
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  Speaker 1: You can also add the full collection of twelve messages
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: on CD or MP three. To purchase these resources right now,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: go to Insight dot org slash offer and now here's Chuck.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: My mother was a wise woman, relentless too, From the
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  Speaker 2: time I was old enough to string sentences together. She
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: was pressing scripture into me. Memorize this, learn that hide
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  Speaker 2: it in your heart. Honestly, when you're young and restless
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  Speaker 2: and there are a thousand other things competing for your attention,
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  Speaker 2: a mother's insistence on scripture memory can feel well, a
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: little annoying. But oh how wise she was, because here
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  Speaker 2: I am, decades later, with eyes that don't cooperate the
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  Speaker 2: way they used to. The pages of my beloved Bible,
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  Speaker 2: dog eared marked up, worn soft from a lifetime of handling,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: are nearly impossible for me to read now. But those
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  Speaker 2: promises they come to my lips like sweet honey, spontaneously, effortlessly,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: right when I need the most. A friend told me
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: recently that my body maybe past ninety, but my mind
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: still responds like a forty year old. I'm not sure
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: that's entirely accurate, but I'll take it, and I'll tell
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: you why it's true. To whatever extent it is. It's
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: because God's the Word is hidden in my heart, deeply, permanently,
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: and nothing, not age, not failing eyesight, not the relentless
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: march of time can reach in and take it out.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: God abides forever. I believe that today more than I've
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: ever believed it in my life, and that's precisely why
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: I refuse to grow weary in well doing. We have
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: something the world is desperately searching for. Hope, real hope,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: not optimism, not positive thinking, The timeless, unshakable hope of
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: the Cross, we proclaim. As June thirtieth approaches. Don't wait.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Your gift plants the seed of God's word in fertile
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: soil all over this world. What are you waiting for?
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Let's tell them together, because there is indeed hope.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Yes, the world needs the right direction. To respond to Chuckswindall,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: call us at eight hundred seven seven to two eighty
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: eight eighty eight or go to insight dot org slash
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: donate plus when you respond with a much appreciated gift today,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: we'll say thanks by providing a brand new booklet from Chuck.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: It's called The Cross, we proclaim. In this printed message,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Chuck draws from Paul's Letter to the Corinthians to show
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: how easy it is to live with great energy but
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: be going in the wrong direction, whether chasing achievement, reputation
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: or religious performance. The cross alone has the power to
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: reorient your life. We'd love to send you the cross.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: We proclaim to send a check in the mail. Just
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: to address your donation to Insight for Living, Post Office
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five three four. You
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: can also call us at eight hundred seven seven to
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: two eighty eight eighty eight, or go online to Insight
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: dot org slash donate.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: I'm Bill Meyer.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Join us. When Chucks Wendall describes one of his favorite
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: attributes of God his grace, that's Thursday on Insight for Living.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: The preceding message, The Love of God was copyrighted in
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, twenty sixteen,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, and twenty twenty six, and the sound recording
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: was copyrighted in twenty twenty six by Charles R.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Swindahl Incorporated.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.