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What Will You Pass On to Others · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Good morning. It's always such a pleasure to be with
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Speaker 1: you today, today especially, and I thank you for your presence.
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Speaker 1: I know that the Omicron is sweeping across our area.
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Speaker 1: It's a bit of a risk to come into a
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Speaker 1: group like this, so thank you for risking and for
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Speaker 1: coming together. I want to begin by asking you a question.
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Speaker 1: Everything I have to say today will relate to the
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Speaker 1: answer to this question. But first, think about it, will you?
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Speaker 1: What are you leaving for the next generation? What will
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Speaker 1: you pass on to those who will outlive you? The
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Speaker 1: questions may seem a little irrelevant because you're young, you
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Speaker 1: who are students, and you have most of your life
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Speaker 1: spread out before you. And probably among the last things
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Speaker 1: you think about would be those who will outlive you.
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Speaker 1: But there will be many. And as you minister in
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Speaker 1: the years to come, you will meet them, you'll serve them,
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Speaker 1: and you'll leave them with the lasting impressions that even
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Speaker 1: your death will not erase. I want to talk about
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Speaker 1: those impressions. Stephen King is a horror novel writer, as
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Speaker 1: all of you know. He's rich. He's famous and he's
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Speaker 1: also very human. Neither his notoriety nor his wealth could
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Speaker 1: protect him from a very serious car accident that happened
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Speaker 1: a number of years ago. It was a hit and run.
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Speaker 1: The other car fled. I don't recall if his car
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Speaker 1: was totaled or almost, but He wound up thrown from
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Speaker 1: the vehicle in a ditch, bleeding. He was in a
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Speaker 1: remote area in the countryside. He was seriously injured. Had
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Speaker 1: he not been found and airlifted to a local hospital,
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Speaker 1: he could easily have died. That traumatic event left him
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Speaker 1: differently than he was before it happened. It was his
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Speaker 1: wake-up call, as he put it. This time it wasn't
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Speaker 1: some horrifying story that he created in his mind. It
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Speaker 1: was an actual event that for all he knew would
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Speaker 1: cripple him For the rest of his days. He wrote
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Speaker 1: about it. And I have come across the piece. That
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Speaker 1: he wrote. And I want to read it to you.
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Speaker 1: These are Stephen King's words. After he had recovered in
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Speaker 1: the hospital. And was able to go home. He wrote this.
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Speaker 1: A couple of years ago, I found myself, I really
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Speaker 1: found out what it meant that you can't take it
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Speaker 1: with you. I found out while I was lying in
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Speaker 1: a ditch at the side of the country road, covered
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Speaker 1: with mud and blood, and with a tibia of my
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Speaker 1: right leg poking out of the side of my jeans
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Speaker 1: like the branch of a tree taken down in a thunderstorm.
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Speaker 1: I had a MasterCard in my wallet, but when you're
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Speaker 1: lying in a ditch with broken glass in your hair
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Speaker 1: and blood all over you, no one accepts MasterCard. We
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Speaker 1: all know that life is ephemeral, But on this particular
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Speaker 1: day and in the months that followed, I got a
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Speaker 1: painful but extremely valuable look at life's simple backstage truths.
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Speaker 1: We come in naked and broke. We may be dressed
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Speaker 1: when we go out, but we're just as broke. Warren
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Speaker 1: Buffett going out broke. Bill Gates going out broke. Tom
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Speaker 1: Hanks going out broke. Steve King broke. Not a crying
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Speaker 1: dime at his death. All the money you earn, all
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Speaker 1: the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade,
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Speaker 1: all of that is mostly smoke and mirrors. It's still
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Speaker 1: going to be a quarter past getting late, whether you
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Speaker 1: tell time on a Timex or a Rolex. No matter
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Speaker 1: how large your bank account, no matter how many credit
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Speaker 1: cards you have, sooner or later, things will begin to
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Speaker 1: go wrong with the only three things you have that
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Speaker 1: you can really call your own, your body, your spirit,
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Speaker 1: and your mind. So I want you to consider making
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Speaker 1: your life one long gift to others. And why not?
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Speaker 1: All you have is on loan anyway. All that lasts
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Speaker 1: is what you pass on. Everything I have to say
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Speaker 1: has to do with those last eight words of Stephen King.
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Speaker 1: All you have is what you pass on. And I
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Speaker 1: realize it's easy to forget that when you're involved in
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Speaker 1: your studies, in ministry, preparing for a lifetime of reaching, touching,
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Speaker 1: serving the lives of others. It's easy while here to
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Speaker 1: be focused only on what you're getting. That makes sense.
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Speaker 1: You've come for an education. You seek to learn things
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Speaker 1: you've not known before so that you might use them
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Speaker 1: in a career that stretches out before you. But I
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Speaker 1: want you to remember today that all that lasts is
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Speaker 1: what you pass on It will not be your financial portfolio.
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Speaker 1: It will not be your possessions. It will not even
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Speaker 1: be those precious family photos. What you will pass on,
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Speaker 1: most importantly, will be a life well lived, ideally lived
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Speaker 1: for others. the legacy of a series of life-changing relationships
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Speaker 1: that you cultivate in the years ahead. I would even
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Speaker 1: add in the years you were at this school. In
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Speaker 1: case you wonder what that might look like, you need
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Speaker 1: not wonder any longer. Thanks to the Apostle Paul's careful
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Speaker 1: work in Romans, We find a veritable checklist of the
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Speaker 1: qualities that are worth passing on from one life to another.
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Speaker 1: In the latter half of Romans chapter 12, all the
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Speaker 1: attention that we give to Romans usually falls on the
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Speaker 1: first part of the chapter. I'd like to emphasize the
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Speaker 1: latter part. We haven't the time to cover all the
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Speaker 1: verses that follow verse 8. We usually give attention to
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Speaker 1: verses 1 to 8. I'm looking at 9 through 16, actually,
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Speaker 1: and I want to read the verses for you. carefully
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Speaker 1: and slowly I want you to listen for characteristics in
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Speaker 1: a life worth living Paul writes in verse 9 from
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Speaker 1: the New Living Translation don't just pretend to love others
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Speaker 1: Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to
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Speaker 1: what is good. Love each other with genuine affection. Take
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Speaker 1: delight in honoring each other. He goes on. Never be lazy,
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Speaker 1: but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Literally, the
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Speaker 1: Greek says, with a zealous spirit. I love that. Rejoice
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Speaker 1: in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble. And keep
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Speaker 1: on praying. When God's people are in need, be ready
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Speaker 1: to help. Always be eager to practice hospitality. The list
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Speaker 1: just goes on and on, doesn't it? Bless those who
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Speaker 1: persecute you. Don't curse them. Pray that God will bless them.
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Speaker 1: Be happy with those who are happy and weep with
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Speaker 1: those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don't
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Speaker 1: be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people
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Speaker 1: and don't think you know it all. Candidly, I don't
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Speaker 1: know of a better list to shape one's life with
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Speaker 1: than that list. I once preached on that section. I
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Speaker 1: called it Christianity 101. It's the living out of the
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Speaker 1: life of Christ, emphasizing these various character traits that are
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Speaker 1: worth passing on and yet are so easily forgotten in
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Speaker 1: the midst of our busy, preoccupied world. Not surprisingly, love
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Speaker 1: takes center stage right away, as it should, for it
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Speaker 1: is the pervasive trait that colors all others. So Paul,
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Speaker 1: though he doesn't go into such detail as in 1
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Speaker 1: Corinthians 13, Paul highlights love and not only lands there,
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Speaker 1: but stays there for a little longer than with any
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Speaker 1: of the other characteristics. Let me say a couple of
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Speaker 1: things about love. The best definition I've come across is
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Speaker 1: that love is seeking the highest good of the other person.
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Speaker 1: It's not making the other person comfortable. It's not telling
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Speaker 1: him or her what he or she wants to hear.
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Speaker 1: It isn't treating another like he or she treated you.
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Speaker 1: It isn't looking the other way when another does wrong.
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Speaker 1: Love sometimes must be tough, even stern and always relentless.
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Speaker 1: Other times, admittedly, it is soft and it is affirming, reassuring,
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Speaker 1: and full of forgiveness and compassion. Why is it so important?
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Speaker 1: As I said earlier, it colors all of these other traits.
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Speaker 1: John Stott puts it this way, each staccato imperative adds
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Speaker 1: a fresh ingredient to the Apostles recipe for love here
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Speaker 1: in Romans 12. When it is lived out it wears
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Speaker 1: these various garments. The first is, as you will see
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Speaker 1: in this passage, it is unhypocritical Literally, the verse reads,
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Speaker 1: agape anupacritas. Love unhypocritical. So the first side of the
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Speaker 1: coin is sincerity. A love that's sincere. It isn't play acting.
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Speaker 1: It isn't phony baloney. It isn't act one way and
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Speaker 1: think another. It isn't something with hidden motives as we
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Speaker 1: act out. Love is not theater. John Murray writes, if
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Speaker 1: love is the sum of virtues and the hypocrisy, the
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Speaker 1: epitome of vice, what a contradiction to bring these two together.
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Speaker 1: Let's face it, our culture is saturated with hypocrisy. It
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Speaker 1: goes all the way to the nation's capital. We see
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Speaker 1: it on display on our televisions at night. Polish the
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Speaker 1: image while hiding the reality. We use words that impress,
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Speaker 1: but the fact is, We do not often mean them.
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Speaker 1: So love is to be sincere. Second, it is to
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Speaker 1: be discerning. That's the other side of the same coin
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Speaker 1: of love. Love is not blind sentiment. It has backbone.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't check its brains at the door when it
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Speaker 1: walks into the room of good and evil. Love clings
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Speaker 1: to truth. It bonds like glue. Remember, it's what you
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Speaker 1: pass on that will last. Make sure that it includes
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Speaker 1: a life of love. People who most impacted my life
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Speaker 1: while in the most impressive years of my Earlier days
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Speaker 1: were those who truly loved me. They loved me enough
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Speaker 1: to tell me the truth. They loved me enough to
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Speaker 1: look past those things that should not have been. They
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Speaker 1: loved me often in spite of myself. There are several
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Speaker 1: other components and they are all set forth in this passage.
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Speaker 1: He moves quickly to devoted affection. You'll see that here
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Speaker 1: in verses 9 through 16. Verse 10 refers to devoted affection.
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Speaker 1: Paul draws upon terms that are usually reserved for the family.
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Speaker 1: Familial affection. Philadelphia. The same kind of devotion that you
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Speaker 1: find when family members are in harmony with one another.
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Speaker 1: Let that be true in the family of God, he's saying.
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Speaker 1: Deep familial affection, warmth and depth. And second, he mentions
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Speaker 1: in verse 10, to honor one another. One of my
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Speaker 1: favorite concepts. It works its way out in listening when
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Speaker 1: they speak, caring about how they feel, paying attention to
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Speaker 1: their opinions, and showing gratitude for their lives, and saying so.
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Speaker 1: So important that we be demonstrative In these qualities. Third
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Speaker 1: is one of my favorites. Enthusiasm. Passion. This is not
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Speaker 1: a shallow superficial excitement. Like you'd see at a ball game.
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Speaker 1: This is long lasting. Optimism. True. Zeal. About. the work
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Speaker 1: of the ministry. I urge you in that. I have
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Speaker 1: a friend who said he learned at the school he
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Speaker 1: attended that he did his best preaching when he preached
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Speaker 1: on tiptoe. You live your life on tiptoe when you
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Speaker 1: live it with zeal and enthusiasm. Some time ago I
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Speaker 1: came across a work titled The Art of Possibility by
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Speaker 1: Benjamin Zander. Benjamin Zander at that time was the conductor
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Speaker 1: of the Boston Philharmonic, also a teacher, a professor at
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Speaker 1: the New England Conservatory of Music. He wrote this in
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Speaker 1: a part of his book. Listen to what he says
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Speaker 1: about enthusiasm. I love this example. I had listened to
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Speaker 1: one of my students who was a pianist. I watched
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Speaker 1: her perform Bach's Suite in D minor. And I realized
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Speaker 1: that the student was able to play the piece and
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Speaker 1: could handle it theoretically. I also saw a young pianist
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Speaker 1: playing Chopin's Prelude in my master's class, and although we
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Speaker 1: had worked right up to the edge of realizing the
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Speaker 1: overarching concept of the piece, his performance remained, well, earthbound,
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Speaker 1: shall we say. He understood it intellectually. He could have
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Speaker 1: explained it to someone theoretically, but he was unable to
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Speaker 1: convey the emotional energy that the true language of the
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Speaker 1: music held within it. And so as I noticed it,
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Speaker 1: I saw that his body was firmly centered in the
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Speaker 1: upright position on this piano stool. And so I blurted out,
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Speaker 1: can you imagine in the middle of this man's piece,
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Speaker 1: The trouble is you are a two buttock player, I
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Speaker 1: yelled in the class. I encouraged him to allow his
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Speaker 1: whole body to flow sideways from one cheek to the
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Speaker 1: other on the bench and he would catch the wave
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Speaker 1: of the music and the shape of his own body
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Speaker 1: would convey the enthusiasm of the music. Several in the
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Speaker 1: audience gasped when I made my comment, but later they
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Speaker 1: felt the emotional dart hit home as a new distinction
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Speaker 1: was born. The one but a player, he made the mention.
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Speaker 1: He said, we had in the class that day the
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Speaker 1: CEO of a company from Ohio, Who was there with us.
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Speaker 1: And he wrote me later and said. I was so
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Speaker 1: moved by what you said. I went home. And I
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Speaker 1: formed my whole company. Around the idea of a one
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Speaker 1: but a company. Which is a whole new concept. I'm
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Speaker 1: suggesting a one but a ministry. That you might think about.
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Speaker 1: You've got to be careful who you suggest that to. However.
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Speaker 1: He goes on to talk about a cellist. He said,
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Speaker 1: I met Jacqueline Dupre in the 1950s when I was 20,
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Speaker 1: and she was only 15. Get this. She was just
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Speaker 1: a schoolgirl who blossomed into the greatest cellist of her generation.
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Speaker 1: What enthusiasm! Her performance of the two cellos by Schubert
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Speaker 1: as she played a duet with another stayed with me
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Speaker 1: for the rest of my life. When she was just
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Speaker 1: six years old, the story goes, someone saw her running
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Speaker 1: down the corridor with her little cello held above her head.
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Speaker 1: The custodian said, looked at her and thought he saw
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Speaker 1: a face of relief as she was grinning from ear
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Speaker 1: to ear. And so he referred to that saying, how
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Speaker 1: wonderful it must have been when you played. She said, no,
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Speaker 1: I haven't played yet, but I look forward to, I'm
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Speaker 1: just about to play my piece. There was an excitement
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Speaker 1: before she even went in to play her piece. I
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Speaker 1: would love to light a fire of excitement under many
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Speaker 1: a young preacher I've endured while listening to as they
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Speaker 1: go along with their very accurate exposition of a passage
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Speaker 1: but lacking in enthusiasm. Don't leave that out. Don't forget that.
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Speaker 1: It's amazing what happens in the pulpit and how it
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Speaker 1: affects the pew. Howie Hendricks used to say, a mist
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Speaker 1: in the pulpit puts a fog in the pew. A
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Speaker 1: sleepy preacher puts people out right away. And therefore, I
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Speaker 1: urge you to think seriously about a life of passion.
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Speaker 1: When you share that, literally people do not forget. Then
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Speaker 1: he mentions patience and the importance of enduring hard times.
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Speaker 1: and being steadfast in prayer, something that is so easily,
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Speaker 1: easily forgotten in our lives. I came across an interesting
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Speaker 1: story regarding prayer. A group of young college students went
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Speaker 1: to hear Charles Haddon Spurgeon preach. They had never been
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Speaker 1: to the Tabernacle in London, and therefore they had never
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Speaker 1: seen him in person. They were waiting out in the
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Speaker 1: cold while the doors were still locked, waiting for them
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Speaker 1: to open. While they were there, an older gentleman walked
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Speaker 1: up and asked if they would like to come and
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Speaker 1: see the heating plant of the church. They thought, well,
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Speaker 1: they weren't interested too much in the heating plant, but
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Speaker 1: it might be a place to get warm. They didn't
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Speaker 1: want to offend the old man, so they said, sure.
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Speaker 1: So they walked behind him as they went down a
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Speaker 1: stairway and came to a door that he opened slowly.
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Speaker 1: And they looked inside and there were 700 people on
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Speaker 1: their knees. And he whispered, here is the heating plant
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Speaker 1: of the church. And they realized that above them was
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Speaker 1: a sanctuary that would soon be filled with God's blessing.
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Speaker 1: But the heating plant was down below. When it was
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Speaker 1: all over, the older gentleman introduced himself to them. It
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Speaker 1: was Spurgeon himself. who wanted them to know the value
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Speaker 1: of prayer as it relates to the ministry of the word.
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Speaker 1: And I would emphasize the same to all of you.
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Speaker 1: If you have a body of people who hold you
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Speaker 1: up in prayer, you're a rich individual. Billy Graham used
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Speaker 1: to talk about the one who would get the greater reward,
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Speaker 1: himself or the lady who prayed for him throughout his ministry.
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Speaker 1: back home and he was quick to say the greater
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Speaker 1: reward will go to her encourage great commitment to prayer
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Speaker 1: in your ministry it will outlive you and it will
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Speaker 1: not be forgotten by others fifth he mentions generosity in
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Speaker 1: verse 13 we tend immediately to think of being generous
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Speaker 1: with money but there are other kinds of generosity Generosity
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Speaker 1: of our time. Generosity of interest and attention. When you
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Speaker 1: talk to others, be sure you look at them rather
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Speaker 1: than around them. Generosity of encouragement. These are all what
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Speaker 1: we call random acts of kindness that mean so much
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Speaker 1: to others. And then he mentions hospitality. You know what
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Speaker 1: the Greek term for hospitality means? It really is. It
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Speaker 1: really comes from the words love of strangers. Reaching out
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Speaker 1: to those you've not known before. Make a habit of
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Speaker 1: that in your life and in your ministry. We're not
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Speaker 1: simply to be hospitable. This word here is pursue hospitality.
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Speaker 1: Take time for those whom you've not known before and
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Speaker 1: reach out to them. And then, of course, would be empathy.
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Speaker 1: That would be both sympathy for those who are sad
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Speaker 1: and the ability to rejoice with those who rejoice. We're
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Speaker 1: better at the former than we are at the latter.
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Speaker 1: When we see someone broken in grief, our hearts quickly
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Speaker 1: are moved over that. But when another is promoted, how
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Speaker 1: rarely we rejoice over their promotion. How good it is
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Speaker 1: that you cultivate the habit of writing a note of
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Speaker 1: congratulations to those who've achieved something of a particular benefit
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Speaker 1: or celebrative note in their life that's so valuable that
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Speaker 1: you rejoice with those who rejoice. There's an old Swedish
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Speaker 1: proverb that used to hang in a little frame in
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Speaker 1: our kitchen at home that my mother would often read,
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Speaker 1: shared sorrow is a double, shared joy is a double joy.
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Speaker 1: Shared sorrow is half sorrow. The blessing in it is
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Speaker 1: in the sharing of it. As a minister of the gospel,
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Speaker 1: be one who shares in this in the lives of others.
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Speaker 1: As they rejoice, rejoice with them. As they grieve, take
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Speaker 1: time to grieve with them. How valuable that is in ministry.
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Speaker 1: It's all back to love, isn't it? Love sings when
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Speaker 1: those around us are singing. Love mourns when those around
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Speaker 1: us are weeping. Love laughs when those around us are
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Speaker 1: cheery and filled with joy. Love stays awake when those
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Speaker 1: around us cannot sleep. All of this sets the stage
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Speaker 1: for the seventh and final expression of true love that's
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Speaker 1: worth passing on. This is one of the fairest flowers
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Speaker 1: that ever grew. Humility. He mentions it in verse 16.
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Speaker 1: He speaks here against our being snobbish. proud of our status,
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Speaker 1: proud of our training, of our degrees, of our birth,
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Speaker 1: of our giftedness, proud of our accomplishments. The remedy is
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Speaker 1: to remember how everything got started in your life Remember
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Speaker 1: where you were when you just began life. Years ago,
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Speaker 1: my daughter and I were traveling from Southern California, younger
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Speaker 1: daughter and I. We were going to Houston, and it
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Speaker 1: was a long trip. We loved it being together. We
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Speaker 1: had stopped in a place for the night when we
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Speaker 1: got nearer Houston, and she was looking at the map,
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Speaker 1: It's where we would be traveling tomorrow as we got
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Speaker 1: to Houston. And she said, oh, Daddy, she said, look here.
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Speaker 1: We're going to be on a road that's not that
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Speaker 1: far from El Campo, which is the great white way
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Speaker 1: of my birth. And, of course, you've never heard of it,
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Speaker 1: and most people on the planet have never heard of it,
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Speaker 1: but she had heard me talk about that little town
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Speaker 1: of El Campo where I was born. She said, I'd
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Speaker 1: love to go there. I said, sure, we'd pull off
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Speaker 1: and take that side road and visit there. I'd not
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Speaker 1: been there since forever. So we drove in the town
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Speaker 1: and a little nostalgic seeing some of the sights as
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Speaker 1: you go through when you go to the place where
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Speaker 1: you were born and spent your earliest years. She said,
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Speaker 1: do you know the house? I've heard you talk about
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Speaker 1: it where where you were born. My dad used to
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Speaker 1: say that all three of the kids were birthed in
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Speaker 1: the same bed where they were conceived. My mother never
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Speaker 1: liked it that he told that to everybody he met,
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Speaker 1: but he was proud of it. She said, you think
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Speaker 1: we can find that place? I said, well, it's a
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Speaker 1: little garage apartment. Maybe we can find granddaddy's place, and
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Speaker 1: then I'll take a right and another right, and I
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Speaker 1: think that'll be. So I did that, and there it was. Tiny.
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Speaker 1: In fact, it's leaning a little bit toward the north
34:36
Speaker 1: as a result of the ocean breeze or the bay
34:41
Speaker 1: breeze that blows across El Campo, not far from Palacios.
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Speaker 1: And she said, turn the motor off, turn the engine off.
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Speaker 1: So I did. We sat and looked at it. She
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Speaker 1: put her hand over on mine. I'll never forget this.
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Speaker 1: And she said, Gosh, Daddy. Like, is that it? I go, yeah,
35:09
Speaker 1: isn't that impressive? Look at that. Then all of a sudden,
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Speaker 1: she began to cry. She said, I think it's wonderful.
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Speaker 1: I think it's great, she said, that I can see
35:27
Speaker 1: where it all got started. I remembered a statement one
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Speaker 1: of the prophets made that we should remember the hole
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Speaker 1: from which we were dug. I sat in the car
35:43
Speaker 1: and I looked at this little place. I remember we
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Speaker 1: had a cow out back. My mom and dad took
35:50
Speaker 1: turns milking it so we would have food and a
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Speaker 1: little four-room garage apartment older brother, older sister and I,
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Speaker 1: all born, and for the first few years of our lives,
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Speaker 1: reared there. Who would ever know? Who would ever care?
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Speaker 1: It was good for me to see it and to
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Speaker 1: put myself back in that place and remember. I suggest
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Speaker 1: you do that sometime in your own life. Clarence Thomas
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Speaker 1: did that. I remember reading his memoirs several years ago.
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Speaker 1: You remember Clarence Thomas, Justice of the Supreme Court of
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Speaker 1: the United States of America. He tells the whole story
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Speaker 1: in his book, My Grandfather's Son. which he became because
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Speaker 1: his grandfather raised him. I want you to hear his roots.
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Speaker 1: I'm descended from the West African slaves who lived on
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Speaker 1: the barrier islands in Georgia. My people were called Geechies.
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Speaker 1: Mother was born out of wedlock, Her mother died in childbirth,
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Speaker 1: and she saw little of her father, who was a slave,
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Speaker 1: as she was just a child. I was delivered by
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Speaker 1: Lula Kemp, my midwife, who came from the nearby community
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Speaker 1: of Sandfly. He, by the way, was born in pinpoint.
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Speaker 1: He says in the book, neither is on the map.
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Speaker 1: It's too small. Pinpoint and sand fly. Our lives were
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Speaker 1: a daily struggle for the barest of essentials, food, clothing,
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Speaker 1: and shelter. The place in which I was born was
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Speaker 1: a shanty, Kerosene lamps lit the house. Water came from
38:33
Speaker 1: a nearby faucet that stuck out of the ground and
38:38
Speaker 1: we carried it through the woods in old lard buckets.
38:43
Speaker 1: They were small enough for us to fill up and
38:48
Speaker 1: tote home where we poured the contents into the wash
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Speaker 1: tub or a larger kitchen buckets out of which we
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Speaker 1: drank with a dipper. In the wintertime, we plugged up
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Speaker 1: the cracks and the holes in the walls with old newspapers.
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Speaker 1: That was the late 1940s in Pinpoint, Georgia. Fast forward
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Speaker 1: to the fall of 1991. Following his being sworn in,
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Speaker 1: he writes, I walked into the awe-inspiring great hall of
39:43
Speaker 1: the court and through the imposing doorway glancing at the
39:49
Speaker 1: huge brass doors. We then walked slowly down the gleaming
39:58
Speaker 1: white marble steps lit by the brightness of a beautiful
40:03
Speaker 1: sunny morning. I thought back to another sunny day when
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Speaker 1: my brother and I had walked for miles through the
40:15
Speaker 1: woods to a house where we would live with our grandparents,
40:23
Speaker 1: all of our belongings were stuffed into a pair of
40:28
Speaker 1: grocery bags. Every time I look at the nine justices,
40:38
Speaker 1: I always spot Justice Thomas and remember the hole from
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Speaker 1: which he was dug. No wonder he still has a
40:51
Speaker 1: heart for the ordinary person. Never lose that heart, men
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Speaker 1: and women. I don't care what title you're given. I
41:06
Speaker 1: don't care what degrees you earn. I don't care what
41:10
Speaker 1: amount of money you may make. Your humility is worth
41:18
Speaker 1: passing on And it starts with remembering how life began
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Speaker 1: for you. Whether it's El Campo or Sandfly or Pinpoint
41:32
Speaker 1: or wherever. The man understands both extremes, doesn't he? What
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Speaker 1: a list. devoted affection, honor and respect, enthusiasm and passion, patience, generosity,
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Speaker 1: empathy and sympathy, humility, love. I think I'm probably looking
42:18
Speaker 1: into the faces of some Whose love has been burned.
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Speaker 1: I regret that for you. Because it probably. Has caused
42:30
Speaker 1: you to restrain yourself. Lest you be burned again. I
42:39
Speaker 1: want to caution you about that. People don't show love.
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Speaker 1: Either because they're proud. Or because they're afraid of the risk.
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Speaker 1: I hope as the minister of the gospel, you will
42:54
Speaker 1: leave both aside and let your love flow. Don't forget
43:01
Speaker 1: to write the words I love you to others outside
43:08
Speaker 1: your family. Use the pronoun. And when you're with them,
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Speaker 1: don't be afraid to say it. Your love will last
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Speaker 1: long after your face is forgotten. Your love will linger
43:30
Speaker 1: forever in another's life. But it's a risk. C.S. Lewis
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Speaker 1: writes in The Four Loves, to love it all is
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Speaker 1: to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly
43:49
Speaker 1: be wronged. and possibly be broken. If you want to
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Speaker 1: make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your
44:03
Speaker 1: heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it
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Speaker 1: carefully all around with hobbies and little luxuries. Avoid all entanglements.
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Speaker 1: Lock it up safe in the casket of your selfishness.
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Speaker 1: And in that casket, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.
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Speaker 1: It will not be broken. It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, Irredeemable.
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Speaker 1: The only place outside heaven where you can be perfectly
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Speaker 1: safe from all the dangers of love is hell. What
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Speaker 1: are you passing on to others? Those who will outlive you?
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Speaker 1: Give it thought. Because as Stephen King has written, all
45:31
Speaker 1: that lasts is what you pass on. All that lasts
45:43
Speaker 1: is what you pass on. I understand. I know your
45:54
Speaker 1: life is busy. I know there are deadlines. I know
45:57
Speaker 1: there are demands. I know there are exams. I understand.
45:59
Speaker 1: I know it like the back of my hand. But
46:07
Speaker 1: in all of your getting, all of your learning, pay
46:13
Speaker 1: attention to some qualities that will be seen in you
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Speaker 1: over and above the sermons you preach, the counsel you give,
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Speaker 1: the books you write. Give attention to these qualities. That's
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Speaker 1: what they'll remember when you're gone. Bow with me, please.
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Speaker 1: Thank you, Father, for this brief journey through this splendid
47:08
Speaker 1: passage of Scripture. Thank you for leading Paul to write
47:13
Speaker 1: it and putting it in our language so we can
47:16
Speaker 1: grasp it. Thank you for the reminders today and the
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Speaker 1: value of them. May we not soon forget them. May
47:28
Speaker 1: they be demonstrated first at home with those who know
47:33
Speaker 1: us best. At school where we are in training with
47:40
Speaker 1: others learning and growing together and ultimately in places where
47:47
Speaker 1: we will minister in the years to come. These are
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Speaker 1: our way of saying just be glorified. In us and
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Speaker 1: through us. In our lives. Be magnified. I pray in
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Speaker 1: the name of our model, our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: Everyone sit. Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, What Will You Pass On To Others?
48:32
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2022 and 2023, and the sound recording
48:37
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2023 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All
48:42
Speaker 2: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
48:47
Speaker 2: use is strictly prohibited.