Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Hope Beyond Extremism Marching Orders for Soldiers of the Cross Msg 1217 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Hope Beyond Extremism Marching Orders for Soldiers of the Cross Msg 1217 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: When the time is short, things get urgent, and I've
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Speaker 1: also noticed that they get simplified. There's something about the
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Speaker 1: brevity of time that adds urgency and simplicity. Think, for example,
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Speaker 1: of a time in your life when a loved one
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Speaker 1: you know has discovered that he or she hasn't long
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Speaker 1: to live. Your visits are often much more urgent, and
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Speaker 1: your discussions are simple, to the point basic. When you
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Speaker 1: are only minutes from a hurricane or the arrival of
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Speaker 1: a tornado that you can see in the immediate distance,
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Speaker 1: you usually don't pull out a monopoly game and sit
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Speaker 1: down to play for a while. You don't set up
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Speaker 1: plans for an exotic meal or some lengthy opportunity to
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Speaker 1: serve your guests. You boil things down to survival because
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Speaker 1: the hour is short and there's urgency. There's the need
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Speaker 1: for survival and simplicity. If you're driving home from church
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Speaker 1: and you discover the moment it happens an accident occurring
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Speaker 1: in the other lane, and you are the only one
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Speaker 1: there to assist, you don't worry about your clothing getting
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Speaker 1: dirty or bloody. You're there to help. There's an urgency.
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Speaker 1: There's a simplicity in the mission. The shortness of time
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Speaker 1: requires both. I noticed when I come to the scriptures
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Speaker 1: that Jesus himself model that particular fact. As long as
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Speaker 1: there was time, he took time to eat with his disciples,
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Speaker 1: to train his disciples to minister to individuals spontaneous and
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Speaker 1: at their need. In the hour of their need, he
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Speaker 1: would linger over a meal with friends. He would sit
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Speaker 1: back and enjoy relaxed moments with individuals like Mary and
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Speaker 1: Martha and Lazarus. But when the hour of the cross
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Speaker 1: came near, there was urgency in his voice, and it
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Speaker 1: seemed as though his attention was directed to those particular,
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Speaker 1: simple events that were in front of him. The same
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Speaker 1: is true regarding his return. Let me show you, for example,
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Speaker 1: from the Gospel by Matthew Over in the sixteenth chapter
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Speaker 1: of the Chain of Events that lead that led to
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Speaker 1: that urgency and simplicity Matthew sixteen, verse twenty one. Peter
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Speaker 1: has just made the great statement regarding Jesus' identity verse
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Speaker 1: twenty one, chapter sixteen. From that time, Jesus began to
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Speaker 1: show him disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and
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Speaker 1: suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
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Speaker 1: scribes and be killed and be raised on the third day. Now,
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Speaker 1: the same one who has just given this wonderful statement
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Speaker 1: of faith rebukes the Lord Jesus for that statement. He's
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Speaker 1: bothered by it. He's planning on a kingdom. He's not
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Speaker 1: planning on a cross. He's looking for a crown, not suffering.
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Speaker 1: So Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying,
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Speaker 1: God forbid it. Lord, I mean, can you imagine someone
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Speaker 1: saying that to Jesus. I was watching a television program
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Speaker 1: the other evening on the public television channel. It was
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Speaker 1: entitled Ethics in America. Some of you may have watched it.
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Speaker 1: It was an interesting program in that people like a
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Speaker 1: four star general that was in charge of the Vietnam
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Speaker 1: War was there in civilian clothes, and right alongside him
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Speaker 1: was a member of the House of Representatives, and alongside
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Speaker 1: him was another individual, high ranking officer, and they were
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Speaker 1: all together in that scene. And as the hour intensified
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Speaker 1: and as the issues grew, it became obvious that no
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Speaker 1: one was worried about anybody's rank, and everybody got urgently
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Speaker 1: involved in the issue that was being raised. And someone
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Speaker 1: looked at General Westmoreland and sort of rebuked him. I
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Speaker 1: wonder how many times a four star general in the
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Speaker 1: army has been rebuked by somebody else. But at that time,
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Speaker 1: rank was stripped, and it was the issue that was
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Speaker 1: at stake. Jesus right now in Peter's mind, has lost rank.
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Speaker 1: And Peter goes at the issue saying, how could you
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Speaker 1: say such a thing? God forbid it, Lord, And I'll
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Speaker 1: tell you. Jesus doesn't back down. He turned and said
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Speaker 1: to Peter, get behind me, Satan. Can you imagine being
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Speaker 1: told that, get behind me, Satan? Stumbling block to me?
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Speaker 1: For you are not setting your mind on God's interests,
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Speaker 1: but man's, and that calls for such a rebuke. And
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Speaker 1: then Jesus said to his disciples, let's get down to
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Speaker 1: simple basics. Let's get down to the essential, simple requirements
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Speaker 1: of discipleship. If anyone wishes to come after me, let
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Speaker 1: him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
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Speaker 1: And whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it.
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Speaker 1: Whoever wishes to lose his life for my sake shall
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Speaker 1: find it. We're down to urgent, simple demands. Why, because
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Speaker 1: the hour is short, he hasn't long same Gospel chapter
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Speaker 1: twenty four, you'll see a similar scene, or at least
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Speaker 1: a similar urgency. Matthew twenty four. As Jesus was sitting
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Speaker 1: on the Mount of Olives verse three with the disciples,
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Speaker 1: they came to him privately, saying us, when will these
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Speaker 1: things be? And what will be the sign of your
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Speaker 1: coming and the end of the age. And Jesus immediately
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Speaker 1: gets down to basics. He doesn't sit around, he doesn't
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Speaker 1: talk leisurely about what's in front of them. He goes
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Speaker 1: right to the essentials, and verses four through eight, in fact,
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Speaker 1: the whole balance of the chapter. He answered and said
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Speaker 1: to them, see that no one mislead you. Many will
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Speaker 1: come in my name, saying I am the Christ and
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Speaker 1: will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and
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Speaker 1: rumors of war. So see that you are not frightened,
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Speaker 1: for those things must take place. But that is not
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Speaker 1: yet the end. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against
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Speaker 1: kingdom in various places. There will be famines and earthquakes.
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Speaker 1: All these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
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Speaker 1: This doesn't mean that we have come to the ultimate end,
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Speaker 1: but it means the beginning is over. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if you remember the words of Winston Churchill. I believe
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Speaker 1: it was while he was speaking to Parliament and London
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Speaker 1: had just about been bombed to smithereens, and the Britishers
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Speaker 1: were losing heart. Seemed as though Churchill never did. I'm
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Speaker 1: sure he must have had low moments, but his speeches
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Speaker 1: don't reveal it. And he said to those people who
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Speaker 1: sat in Parliament as they were, I'm sure quaking in
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Speaker 1: their spirits. And he looked out the window and he
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Speaker 1: saw the ruins, and he said, this is not the end.
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Speaker 1: This is not even the beginning of the end. Ah,
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Speaker 1: but it is perhaps the end of the beginning. I
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Speaker 1: think that's what Jesus is saying. When you see these
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Speaker 1: things occurring, It isn't the end. It may not even
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Speaker 1: be the beginning of the end, but it is the
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Speaker 1: end of the beginning. By the way, did you notice
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Speaker 1: some things that were very relevant to where we live
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Speaker 1: these days? Nations rising against nations, kingdom against kingdoms, famines, earthquakes.
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Speaker 1: Just thought i'd mention that in case one happens tonight,
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Speaker 1: just remember we're getting close. Look at Romans fourteen from
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Speaker 1: the words of Jesus turned to the warnings of Paul Romans,
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Speaker 1: chapter fourteen. Once again, the hour is short. Therefore it's
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Speaker 1: urgent and simple. Fourteen of Romans, verse ten. But you,
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Speaker 1: why do you judge your brother, asks the apostle. Or
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Speaker 1: you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? Or?
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Speaker 1: We shall all stand before the judgment's seat of God.
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Speaker 1: By the way, that was a thought never very far
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Speaker 1: from the apostle's mind. One of the reasons we do
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Speaker 1: not judge one another is that we must all stand
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Speaker 1: before the only one qualified to judge. And in light
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Speaker 1: of his coming and our appearance before him, keep your
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Speaker 1: judgment to yourself. We must all stand before the judgment's
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Speaker 1: seat of God. As I live, says the Lord. Every
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Speaker 1: knee shall bow to me, every tongue shall give praise
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Speaker 1: to God. So then each one of us shall give
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Speaker 1: account of himself to God. You can see this at
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Speaker 1: every one of the epistles. I'll not take the time
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Speaker 1: for each, but look at the next one. First Corinthians,
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Speaker 1: chapter four, and just one verse verse five, First Corinthians
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Speaker 1: four or five. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment
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Speaker 1: before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who
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Speaker 1: will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness,
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Speaker 1: and disclose the motives of men's hearts, and then each
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Speaker 1: man's praise will come to him from God. If you
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Speaker 1: will live in the light of Christ's return every day
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Speaker 1: of your life, it will do wonders to your habit
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Speaker 1: of judging. It will silence your lip from gossip. If
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Speaker 1: you realize that you must give account for every idle
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Speaker 1: word and action when you stand before the Lord Jesus,
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Speaker 1: it will do wonders to your conduct. It will also
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Speaker 1: make you realize how many needless things we get involved
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Speaker 1: in on this earth, sort of like rearranging the deck
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Speaker 1: chairs and the Titanic. Don't bother, don't get lost in
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Speaker 1: the details. He's coming soon. You see the urgency and
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Speaker 1: the simplicity of the hour. I have many other references,
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Speaker 1: but I won't take time. Look at First Peter chapter four.
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Speaker 1: As we return to this wonderful study we're engaged in
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Speaker 1: the apostle. Over in the Timothy letter refers to us
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Speaker 1: as soldiers, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And here
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Speaker 1: are some marching orders for soldiers of Christ. First Peter
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Speaker 1: chapter four. Now, remember Peter has been dealing with the
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Speaker 1: suffering saints those who were being taken advantage of those
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Speaker 1: who could see no relief in sight. And when Peter
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Speaker 1: came to the middle of this fourth chapter, he decided
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Speaker 1: to remind them that this is all temporary. In fact,
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Speaker 1: he says at the beginning of verse seven, the end
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Speaker 1: of all things is at hand. Now remember what I
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Speaker 1: said earlier. When there is brevity of time, things get
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Speaker 1: urgent and things get simple. Look at the urgency and
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Speaker 1: the simplicity in Peter's pen in the words that follow.
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Speaker 1: Let me read the verses for you. The end of
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Speaker 1: all things is at hand. Therefore, be of sound judgment
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Speaker 1: and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all,
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Speaker 1: keep fervent in your love for one another, because love
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Speaker 1: covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another
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Speaker 1: without complaint. As each one has received a special gift,
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Speaker 1: employ it in serving one another as good stewards of
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Speaker 1: the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak
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Speaker 1: as it were the utterances of God. And whoever serves,
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Speaker 1: let him do so as by the strength which God supplies,
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Speaker 1: so that in all things God may be glorified through
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever
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Speaker 1: and ever. Amen. Now Here we are in the middle
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Speaker 1: of a letter, and he's already saying Amen. It is
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Speaker 1: like a preliminary benediction. It's like a brief doxology of
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Speaker 1: praise to God. Write in the middle of this letter.
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Speaker 1: What I find in these verses I just read are
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Speaker 1: four commands and one goal. Take the time to notice
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Speaker 1: the commands to begin with, and observe how urgent and
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Speaker 1: how simple Peter keeps things. Command number one, Verse seven,
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Speaker 1: sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
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Speaker 1: Let me paraphrase it this way. Use good judgment, stay
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Speaker 1: calm in a spirit of prayer. You know how to
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Speaker 1: live in light of Christ's immediate return. To begin with,
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Speaker 1: follow this command, use good judgment, stay calm in a
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Speaker 1: spirit of prayer. Let me spend a few moments analyzing
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Speaker 1: those words. First of all, be of sound judgment. Be
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Speaker 1: of sound judgment. Today we would say keep cool, stay cool,
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Speaker 1: be sober. It does not mean the opposite of intoxication.
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Speaker 1: Get this. It means the opposite of living in a frenzy,
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Speaker 1: in a maddening kind of extremism. For example, don't try
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Speaker 1: to set dates regarding Christ's coming. That's an extreme reaction
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Speaker 1: to prophecy. Here's another. Don't panic as if things are
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Speaker 1: out of control, and another, don't be filled with anxiety.
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Speaker 1: Don't quit your job and wait on some rooftop for
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Speaker 1: Christ to come back. That's extremism. That's not facing it
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Speaker 1: in a cool, calm manner. Here's another. Don't think you
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Speaker 1: have to explain everything regarding the future. I know you
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Speaker 1: read the works of Warren Weersby. I came across in
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Speaker 1: his little book Be Hopeful. A couple of interesting paragraphs
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Speaker 1: made me chuckle. I know because I had been right there.
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Speaker 1: He said, early in my ministry, I gave a message
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Speaker 1: on prophecy that sought to explain everything. I have since
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Speaker 1: filed it away. I've filed away that outline and will
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Speaker 1: probably never look at it except when I need to
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Speaker 1: be humbled. A pastor friend who suffered through my message,
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Speaker 1: said to me after the service, brother, you must be
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Speaker 1: on the planning committee for the return of Christ. I
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Speaker 1: got his point, but he made it even more pertinent
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Speaker 1: when he said, quietly, you know I've moved from the
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Speaker 1: program committee to the welcoming committee. Then he adds, I'm
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Speaker 1: not suggesting that we not study prophecy, or that we
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Speaker 1: become timid about sharing our interpretations. What I am suggesting
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Speaker 1: is that we not allow ourselves to get out of
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Speaker 1: balance because of an abuse of prophecy. There's a practical
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Speaker 1: application to the prophetic scriptures. Peter's emphasis on hope and
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Speaker 1: the glory of God ought to encourage us to be
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Speaker 1: faithful today in whatever work God has given us to do.
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Speaker 1: I think I want to warn you against feeling the
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Speaker 1: need to wear a big placard, a big sign that
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Speaker 1: says the Lord is returning or doom is coming. You
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Speaker 1: don't have to do that, Peter says. On the other hand,
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Speaker 1: be calm, use sound judgment, and do it in a
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Speaker 1: spirit of prayer. Men and women. There is nothing quite
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Speaker 1: like prayer to sharpen our awareness, to keep us alert,
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Speaker 1: and yet to remind us who has the controls. When
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Speaker 1: I see people who are all out of sorts, full
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Speaker 1: of anxiety, on the ragged edge of extremism regarding prophecy,
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Speaker 1: I'm looking at a person who isn't spending enough time
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Speaker 1: in prayer. Prayer calms your spirit. It doesn't make you indifferent.
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Speaker 1: On the contrary, it reminds you. He is in control,
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Speaker 1: He has everything in control. Use sound judgment, stay calm.
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Speaker 1: Kenneth Weiste translates this, be calm and collected in a
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Speaker 1: spirit with a view to giving yourself in prayer. Say
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Speaker 1: do you remember Peter who was told by the Lord
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Speaker 1: in the garden to wait here and pray while I
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Speaker 1: go over here to pray and remember the Lord's returning.
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Speaker 1: It's recorded in Mark fourteen. And he finds Peter asleep
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Speaker 1: right sound asleep. And he said to Peter, and to
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Speaker 1: John and to the other he said, couldn't you have
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Speaker 1: waited with me for this hour? You think Peter doesn't
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Speaker 1: write with a sense of urgency. He remembers that rebuke,
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Speaker 1: I left you to pray, and you fell a sleep.
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Speaker 1: That's why Peter would add with a real sense of understanding.
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Speaker 1: Be of sound judgment and sober spirit, and do it
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Speaker 1: in a spirit of prayer. That's the first command. Here's
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Speaker 1: the second verse eight. Stay fervent in love. Fervent is
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Speaker 1: a word that speaks of intensity and determination. It is
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Speaker 1: an athletic term for stretching to reach the tape. I
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Speaker 1: don't know if you've watched these fellows and gals who
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Speaker 1: run the dash. When they come around that last turn
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Speaker 1: and they're pressing for the tape, they'll get right to
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Speaker 1: the end and then they'll lunch forward. I've even seen
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Speaker 1: them fall right there on the track because they're they're
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Speaker 1: pushing to reach the tape before the one they're competing against.
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Speaker 1: It's the idea of intensity at the tape, stretching yourself.
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Speaker 1: Those who do the long jump leap into the air
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Speaker 1: and throw their feet forward, and they, with intensity, stretch
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Speaker 1: every muscle of their body to reach as far as
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Speaker 1: they can. The same with the high job or with
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Speaker 1: the pole vault. They stretch there to the uttermost to
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Speaker 1: reach the limit. That's the word fervent, he says, above all,
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Speaker 1: be fervent. Keep fervent in your love for one another.
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Speaker 1: You know, if there is ever a time we need
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Speaker 1: to stay close, it is toward the end times. This
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Speaker 1: is not a time to fall into the hands of
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Speaker 1: the enemy and commit mutiny. This is the time we've
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Speaker 1: got to stick together. Spend less time, less time criticizing
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Speaker 1: other Christians. Don't waste your time criticizing another church or
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Speaker 1: some pastor. Don't waste your time talking about how much
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Speaker 1: better your church is than another church is spend your
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Speaker 1: time building up one another, staying fervent in love. Look
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Speaker 1: at how the verse begins above all more than anything else,
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Speaker 1: And I think it's really a compliment. He says, keep pervent,
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Speaker 1: which implies that they already were. Doesn't say be fervent.
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Speaker 1: He says, stay at it. You're doing it already. Stay
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Speaker 1: at it. And what is it that reveals true love?
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Speaker 1: Look at the rest of the verse, because love covers
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Speaker 1: a multitude of sins. You know that Peter is quoting
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Speaker 1: from the ancient Proverbs. He's quoting from Proverbs ten, verse twelve.
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Speaker 1: Check it for yourself. It reads hatred stirs up strife,
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Speaker 1: but love covers all transgressions. Nothing is more disturbing to
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Speaker 1: the unity of the body than Christians who stir up
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Speaker 1: and disturb other Christians. Don't think the unsaved aren't watching
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Speaker 1: when we bash one another. They love it when we
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Speaker 1: can't get along with each other in the family. It
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Speaker 1: makes news. They love to quote one Christian who is
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Speaker 1: after another Christian. It's as if the journalist leans back
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Speaker 1: from his typewriter and says, aha, gotcha. The pacifistic leader
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Speaker 1: of India for many years, Mahatma Gandhi once said, I
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Speaker 1: like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians. He
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Speaker 1: then gave his reason, they are so unlike your christ Huh,
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Speaker 1: what a rebuke. I like your christ, but I don't
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Speaker 1: like your Christians. They're so unlike their leader. Above all,
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Speaker 1: keep fervent in your love, and if you want to
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Speaker 1: prove how fervent, show me in your forgiveness. Someone has written,
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Speaker 1: we are most like beasts when we kill. We are
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Speaker 1: most like men when we judge. We are most like
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Speaker 1: God when we forgive. I have never met a person
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Speaker 1: who didn't have the ammunition to blame someone else. Every
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Speaker 1: person I know can blame somebody for something, and you're
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Speaker 1: not excluded. I could blame several people for things that
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Speaker 1: have happened in my life, and you could too. Don't
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Speaker 1: waste your time, and I promise neither will I. Moffatt
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Speaker 1: states that this is a warning against loving others by
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Speaker 1: fits and starts. It is a plea, he writes, for
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Speaker 1: steady affection, persisting through the irritations and the antagonisms of
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Speaker 1: common life in a society recruited from various classes of people. Now,
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Speaker 1: before I move on, maybe say, may I say one
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Speaker 1: more word? Regarding this matter of fervency and love. Some
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Speaker 1: people are so easy to love, you just naturally fall
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Speaker 1: into their arms. Some people are so hard to love.
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Speaker 1: You can love them, but you just don't like them
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Speaker 1: very much. If you know what I'm saying. There's something
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Speaker 1: about their nature that's just abrasive and iring, and they
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Speaker 1: are They are like opposite magnets. They repel, but even
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Speaker 1: they need your love. Perhaps they more than the others.
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Speaker 1: Did you get it? Love one another? It's it's very broad,
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Speaker 1: No special classes, no special groups. There are two more
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Speaker 1: commands verse nine simple, be hospitable? Are you with me
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Speaker 1: so far? First of all, have sound judgment, stay calm,
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Speaker 1: and a spirit of prayer. Second, keep pervent in your
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Speaker 1: love for one another. Third, be hospitable. I noticed this
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Speaker 1: is the same. This has the same object is the other,
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Speaker 1: love for one another? And now verse nine, be hospitable
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Speaker 1: to one another, same open end, without complaint. Peter's a
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Speaker 1: practical man. After all, he's married, probably has kids, maybe
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Speaker 1: by now a few teenagers. He knows what it's like
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Speaker 1: to have a busy home. What do you complain about?
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Speaker 1: But it comes to hospitality when he says, be hospitable
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Speaker 1: to one another without complaint. Well, you can complain about
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Speaker 1: the trouble it is. It takes energy to have someone in.
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Speaker 1: It takes effort, it takes planning. They interrupt your privacy.
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Speaker 1: But he says, be hospitable. Nevertheless, what else do you
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Speaker 1: complain about, Well, it takes money. It's a bit expensive.
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Speaker 1: It's easier to fix a meal for one than to
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Speaker 1: fix a meal for three or four. It's easy for
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Speaker 1: just the two of you to do well and to
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Speaker 1: get along, but when you add another two or three,
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Speaker 1: it's expensive. It also takes time, and it's easy to
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Speaker 1: complain about the time it takes to have people in
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Speaker 1: and to show them kindness. I like the words of
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Speaker 1: John Henry Jowat. True love, however, is a splendid host.
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Speaker 1: It's amazing what love does to hospitality. Speaking of Jowat,
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Speaker 1: I have an old book called the Epistles of Peter
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Speaker 1: by Jowat. He says some very quaint things, and he
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Speaker 1: says them in such a way that I don't think
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Speaker 1: any of us will forget them soon. A quote from
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Speaker 1: his work, there is love whose measure is that of
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Speaker 1: an umbrella. There is love whose inclusiveness is that of
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Speaker 1: a great marquis, and there is love whose comprehensions is
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Speaker 1: that of the immeasurable sky. The aim of the New
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Speaker 1: Testament is the conversion of the umbrella into a tent,
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Speaker 1: and the merging of the tent into the glorious canopy
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Speaker 1: of the all unfolding heavens. Push back the walls of
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Speaker 1: family love until they include the neighbor again. Push back
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Speaker 1: the walls until they include the stranger. Again. Push back
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Speaker 1: the walls until they comprehend the foe. When was the
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Speaker 1: last time you entertain someone who was once your enemy.
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Speaker 1: There is something about hospitality that disarms the enemy. The
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Speaker 1: quality of our love, says Jowett, is determined by its inclusiveness.
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Speaker 1: At the one extreme, there is self love, but at
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Speaker 1: the other extreme there is philanthropy. What is the tense,
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Speaker 1: the stretch of my love? What is its covering power?
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Speaker 1: He asks? I do not wonder that the apostle proceeds
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Speaker 1: to indicate the magnificent cover afforded by a magnificent love.
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Speaker 1: Love covers a multitude of sins, not the sins of
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Speaker 1: the lover, but the sins of the loved. Love is
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Speaker 1: willing to forget as well as to forgive. Love does
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Speaker 1: not keep hinting at past failures and past revolts. Love
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Speaker 1: is willing to hide them in a nameless grave. What
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Speaker 1: a man whose life has been stained and blackened by
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Speaker 1: a multitude of sins turns over a new leaf. I
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Speaker 1: love this. Love will never hint at the old leaf,
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Speaker 1: but will rather seek to cover it in deep and
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Speaker 1: healing oblivion. Love is so busy unveiling the promises and
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Speaker 1: allurements of the Morrow that she has little time and
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Speaker 1: still less desire to stir up the choking dust on
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Speaker 1: the blasted and desolate fields of yesterday. I seldom address this,
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Speaker 1: so that's why I'm camping here for a few extra moments.
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Speaker 1: Are you really hospitable? Do you have room in your
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Speaker 1: life to be interrupted? Can people come close? They often
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Speaker 1: feel the magnet of your personal power because of Christ's presence.
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Speaker 1: So many are inquisitive as to the source of it.
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Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, but there's something about
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Speaker 1: a cup of coffee with someone, or a sandwich for lunch.
29:39
Speaker 1: You eat all your meals alone. I know some meals
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Speaker 1: need to be and you need time alone, but all
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Speaker 1: of them, or even most of them. In the days
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Speaker 1: of Peter theener of evangelists couldn't say at the ends.
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Speaker 1: The ends were often brothels, places of ill repute. The
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Speaker 1: only place that they could stay when they traveled and
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Speaker 1: preached would be in the homes of fellow Christians. Your
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Speaker 1: home really open to those in need. I heard the
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Speaker 1: announcement made this evening for these who were coming from
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Speaker 1: Multonoma to stay in homes. So did you let it
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Speaker 1: pass by or did you think you know we could
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Speaker 1: do that? I have seldom had it fail when people
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Speaker 1: have told me they've opened their homes, they've loved it
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Speaker 1: after it was over. Often they did it a little
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Speaker 1: uneasy because you've got a stranger in there, and for
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Speaker 1: all you know, they may snore, or they may keep
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Speaker 1: you up a little later. They never forget that evening
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Speaker 1: in your home. Never I can remember homes I've stayed
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Speaker 1: in in travels to this day and events and the
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Speaker 1: things that happened, and what people said. Think about it
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Speaker 1: in light of Christ's soon coming. Be hospitable to one
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Speaker 1: another without complaint. Now there's one more, Keep serving one
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Speaker 1: another Verses ten and eleven. That's the fourth command. Keep
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Speaker 1: on serving one another. As each one has received a
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Speaker 1: special gift. I love this subject of spiritual gifts. Do
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Speaker 1: you know, fellow Christian, that you have at least one
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Speaker 1: and probably more than one spiritual gift? Are you even
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Speaker 1: aware of the possible gifts? Let me give you a
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Speaker 1: list to put in the margin of your New Testament
31:43
Speaker 1: or of your Bible. Right here, this is a list
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Speaker 1: of These are the places in the New Testament where
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Speaker 1: the spiritual gifts are listed. Ephesians four eleven and twelve,
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Speaker 1: Ephesians four eleven and twelve one, Corinthians twelve twenty eight
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Speaker 1: to thirty, and Romans twelve six through eight. It's a
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Speaker 1: delightful study to take the Ephesians and Romans and Corinthians
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Speaker 1: and one Peter four ten and eleven passages and compare
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Speaker 1: them and come up with a list of them, and
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Speaker 1: then to ask yourself, sort of like working through an
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Speaker 1: application for a job, where would I best fit in
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Speaker 1: this list? You're going to find a spot. And if
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Speaker 1: you don't find it right away, keep pursuing, keep thinking,
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Speaker 1: ask fellow Christians, try them out, put them into action.
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Speaker 1: As you serve one another. You'll discover what you do well.
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Speaker 1: I will never forget the time, and it finally dawned
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Speaker 1: on me that I had a gift of teaching. I mean,
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Speaker 1: you could have knocked be over with a feather if
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Speaker 1: you had tried to convince me of that when I
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Speaker 1: was younger, me a teacher, me somebody to instruct someone else.
32:59
Speaker 1: It came to my attention very slowly, very deliberately. However,
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Speaker 1: here he mentions, not the gift of Well, let's start
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Speaker 1: with the gifts. He mentions verse ten, employ it in
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Speaker 1: serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace
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Speaker 1: of God. Whoever speaks. So there is one of the
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Speaker 1: gifts mentioned here called speaking. Perhaps it's the same one
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Speaker 1: called elsewhere the word of knowledge or the word of wisdom,
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Speaker 1: or maybe it would be the same as the teaching gift. Now,
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Speaker 1: when you speak for Christ, you don't speak your own opinions.
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Speaker 1: You speak his utterances. You represent the Word of God.
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Speaker 1: So be a teacher of the Bible. If that is
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Speaker 1: your gift, make the scriptures the basis of your teaching,
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Speaker 1: you will be forever relevant. If you do. Furthermore, you
33:52
Speaker 1: won't have to scratch around and get a lot of
33:53
Speaker 1: material from Time magazine and Newsweek and all the other
33:57
Speaker 1: material that comes the newspaper, especially the newspaper, and all
34:01
Speaker 1: the sources of information that are so unreliable, light years
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Speaker 1: removed from the truth, many of them. But go to
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Speaker 1: the Bible and teach the utterances of God. Serve the
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Speaker 1: body by teaching. Some of you maybe ought to be
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Speaker 1: engaged in teaching the young. You can teach children, you
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Speaker 1: can teach teenagers, you can teach adults. You might teach
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Speaker 1: people that are working where you work. There might be
34:26
Speaker 1: an opportunity of the lunchtime to do that, or a
34:29
Speaker 1: special Bible class you could be involved in. Keep serving
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Speaker 1: one another in this case through the gift of teaching.
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Speaker 1: And here's another one whoever serves, let him do so
34:40
Speaker 1: as by the strength which God supplies. Now this might
34:44
Speaker 1: be called the gift of helping. The gift of assisting.
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Speaker 1: The teacher is upfront, but the one who serves behind
34:52
Speaker 1: the scenes is not, And the body would be crippled
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Speaker 1: without many people who are able to serve, to help,
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Speaker 1: to encourage. There's a gift of showing mercy that goes
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Speaker 1: along with the ministering to the ill. Now doesn't mean
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Speaker 1: they're the only ones that ought to visit, but they
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Speaker 1: make the best visitors they make the best people to
35:13
Speaker 1: go to the hospital and encourage those that are laid aside.
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Speaker 1: Some don't have a gift of mercy, and I tell
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Speaker 1: them just visit rarely, just get in and out. Just
35:26
Speaker 1: leave that for those that have got it. But others
35:29
Speaker 1: have a gift of evangelism, and it's the easiest thing
35:32
Speaker 1: in the world for them to lead people to Christ.
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Speaker 1: And they just do it naturally. It just flows. It's
35:37
Speaker 1: part of their lives. Others don't have that gift. But
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Speaker 1: we're all to be engaged in the work of making
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Speaker 1: Christ known. There's no week of my life I don't
35:45
Speaker 1: speak to someone about Christ. I don't announce that, I
35:48
Speaker 1: don't broadcast it around the country. It's just a flow.
35:51
Speaker 1: But I don't think I have the gift of evangelism.
35:54
Speaker 1: I don't see phenomenal results and evangelism occurring. But you
35:57
Speaker 1: and I could name people that do. And they're not
35:59
Speaker 1: all the people that lead the crusades. They're individuals that
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Speaker 1: have the most natural way of winning friends. And before
36:07
Speaker 1: you know it, they've turned the conversation to Christ and
36:09
Speaker 1: they've got that person panting to know more, and before
36:13
Speaker 1: they're through, it seems like they've got a contact, if
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Speaker 1: not at that moment, later to lead them to Christ.
36:19
Speaker 1: Serving other people. Get out of your own little tiny radius.
36:25
Speaker 1: As Christ begins, As Christ makes these final plans for
36:28
Speaker 1: a return, be involved in serving. It does wonders for
36:33
Speaker 1: your depression, for your pity parties, for those times when
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Speaker 1: you sit alone and want to sing, woe is me,
36:42
Speaker 1: Woe is me, woe is me. It's a very dull song.
36:46
Speaker 1: It can be sung over and over and over and
36:49
Speaker 1: over again. Let me give you the goal. It's the
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Speaker 1: end of verse eleven, so that in all things God
36:57
Speaker 1: may be glorified through Jesus Christ. The goal is to
37:02
Speaker 1: glorify God. You say, that's so basic, why even spend
37:07
Speaker 1: time on it? Because without that, listen to me, your
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Speaker 1: teaching becomes a drudgery. You're helping leads to burnout. Your
37:17
Speaker 1: evangelism is an intense thing that allows you to never
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Speaker 1: rest or you try to get the glory for all
37:24
Speaker 1: the people you lead to Christ. No, when you have
37:26
Speaker 1: God or the glory of God is your goal. It
37:29
Speaker 1: is amazing what it does to your spiritual gift. It
37:31
Speaker 1: is amazing what it does to your hospitality. It's amazing
37:34
Speaker 1: what it does to your love life. Amazing what it
37:37
Speaker 1: does to your balance all for the glory, the glory
37:43
Speaker 1: of God. Since he gets the glory, we're more comfortable
37:49
Speaker 1: leaving the results with him. Since he gets the glory,
37:54
Speaker 1: our limited umbrella dimensions of love that Jawett describes are
37:58
Speaker 1: expanded since he's to be glorified. Our interest isn't in ourselves.
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Speaker 1: It's in showing courtesy and hospitality and warmth. It comes
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Speaker 1: easier since he's to get the glory. Our spiritual gifts
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Speaker 1: are exercised, not as a chore or a duty, but
38:16
Speaker 1: as a gift. It is my gift to you to teach.
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Speaker 1: It is for God's glory, but it's my opportunity to give.
38:27
Speaker 1: And whatever gifts I may have, you want me to
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Speaker 1: help you know what will make all of this happen.
38:35
Speaker 1: We read over it rather quickly on purpose. Go right
38:38
Speaker 1: back to verse seven, put quotes around it. The end
38:43
Speaker 1: of all things is at hand. I know it sounds
38:53
Speaker 1: like a broken record. I talk about it rather often,
38:56
Speaker 1: but it's in the book, and I can only speak
38:58
Speaker 1: the utterances of God. His coming isn't far away. Some
39:05
Speaker 1: of your and my friends who are at this moment
39:07
Speaker 1: living with terminal diseases may not die. Christ may come
39:11
Speaker 1: before they passed on. I think the only time many
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Speaker 1: people think of Christ's immediate return is when bills come due.
39:22
Speaker 1: They think, Oh Lord, usually around April fourteen, Oh Lord,
39:27
Speaker 1: come quickly. We don't have forever. He may come before
39:34
Speaker 1: this very night runs its course, this very night, and
39:39
Speaker 1: I'll meet you on the way up. As the Gospel
39:44
Speaker 1: song says, Jesus may come today, glad day, glad day.
39:53
Speaker 1: There's a song that I like even better. It's not
39:55
Speaker 1: a song, it's a hymn. I want you to turn
39:59
Speaker 1: to it him five hundred and thirty five. There are,
40:08
Speaker 1: believe it or not, seventeen to twenty five verses or
40:12
Speaker 1: stanzas to this hymn. We will limit it to too
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Speaker 1: this evening, but take the time to look at the
40:17
Speaker 1: theology of this great hymn of Christ's coming. The sands
40:22
Speaker 1: of time are sinking, the dawn of heaven breaks, the
40:29
Speaker 1: summer morn I've sighed for the fair sweet morn awakes.
40:35
Speaker 1: Dark dark has been the midnight. But dayspring is at hand,
40:41
Speaker 1: and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land. The bride eyes
40:50
Speaker 1: not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will
40:53
Speaker 1: not gaze at glory but on my King of grace,
40:58
Speaker 1: not at the crown he gives, but on his pierced hand.
41:05
Speaker 1: Let't you love it? The Lamb is all the glory
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Speaker 1: of Immanuel's land, Our Father. We look so forward to
41:20
Speaker 1: that day, and we shall see the Lamb with pierced
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Speaker 1: hands and pierced feet, and we shall worship him who
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Speaker 1: alone is deserving of all the glory. Worthy is the
41:40
Speaker 1: Lamb who was slain. See in our lives, and hear
41:47
Speaker 1: from our lips, and know from our hearts as only
41:52
Speaker 1: you can know how deeply we love you, Our Father.
41:59
Speaker 1: Keep us calm and cool in a spirit of prayer.
42:05
Speaker 1: Give us a fervency in our love for one another,
42:09
Speaker 1: for that covers a multitude of sins. Find us to
42:14
Speaker 1: be hospitable, people who take time, who are accessible, available, caring,
42:28
Speaker 1: and Lord, as our gifts are exercised. May we do
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Speaker 1: that for your glory, For the Lamb is all the
42:36
Speaker 1: glory in the Manual's land. Me these words we've heard
42:44
Speaker 1: make a difference in the way we live. And may
42:49
Speaker 1: the difference be so significant that it is noticed and
42:53
Speaker 1: we have opportunity to give you the praise before others.
43:00
Speaker 1: We pray in Jesus's wonderful name. Amen. The preceding message
43:09
Speaker 1: hope beyond extremism. Marching Orders for Soldiers of the Cross
43:13
Speaker 1: was copyrighted in nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety, nineteen ninety six,
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Speaker 1: two thousand and six, and twenty eleven, and the sound
43:22
Speaker 1: recording was copyrighted in twenty eleven by Charles Arswindahl, Inc.
43:26
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
43:31
Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited