Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Saying Yes! to Christ’s Call, Part 3
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: How long will it take you to say yes to
- 0:11Speaker 1: the Lord's calling? If you're willing to take Him at
- 0:15Speaker 1: His word and trust Him to lead you, just as
- 0:18Speaker 1: He trusts you to follow Him, then your answer is
- 0:21Speaker 1: not only yes, it can be today an immediate yes.
- 0:32Speaker 2: When Jesus calls someone into his service, he sees more
- 0:35Speaker 2: than the person standing in front of him. He sees
- 0:38Speaker 2: not what we are, but what we're meant to be.
- 0:41Speaker 2: Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll takes us to Galilee,
- 0:45Speaker 2: where Jesus looked at rough, unpolished fishermen and saw what
- 0:48Speaker 2: they'd one day become. He sees the same potential in us.
- 0:52Speaker 2: It's one of the most encouraging truths in all of Scripture.
- 0:56Speaker 2: And it started with a simple response. Chuck titled today's message,
- 1:00Speaker 2: Saying Yes to Christ's Call.
- 1:10Speaker 1: Look at verse 16 of Mark 1. As he was
- 1:13Speaker 1: going along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon
- 1:17Speaker 1: and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in
- 1:22Speaker 1: the sea, for they were fishermen. These men are casting
- 1:27Speaker 1: their nets. They are professional fishermen. We read that here
- 1:31Speaker 1: at the end of verse 16. You may not know it,
- 1:35Speaker 1: but fishing was big business back then and remained so
- 1:38Speaker 1: for years in Galilee. These men knew the world of fishing.
- 1:44Speaker 1: Now notice when Jesus sees them doing what they did
- 1:47Speaker 1: for a living, He spoke to them. Again, if you
- 1:51Speaker 1: carry a red letter edition of the Bible, you'll see
- 1:54Speaker 1: red words here. Jesus said to them, follow me, follow me,
- 2:00Speaker 1: and I will make you become fishers of men. All
- 2:08Speaker 1: he says is, follow me. This was an enormous risk
- 2:15Speaker 1: because in order to follow him, they would need to
- 2:18Speaker 1: leave what was familiar, their source of income, the way
- 2:25Speaker 1: they supported their family. He only made one promise after
- 2:30Speaker 1: the command. Do you see it? I will make you
- 2:34Speaker 1: become fishers of men. It would be a process which
- 2:40Speaker 1: is seen in the word become. They didn't, 10 minutes
- 2:44Speaker 1: after starting to follow, qualify as fishers of men. That
- 2:48Speaker 1: took time. They needed to be trained in that. They
- 2:52Speaker 1: would become that over a process and they would need
- 2:56Speaker 1: to leave the familiar places of their life and go
- 3:01Speaker 1: to what was unfamiliar. Ultimately, they would stop catching fish
- 3:05Speaker 1: and they would start catching people. I think Jesus was
- 3:09Speaker 1: saying this. If I can trust you to follow me,
- 3:13Speaker 1: you can trust me to train you. His call always
- 3:18Speaker 1: has that implication. If I can trust you to follow me,
- 3:23Speaker 1: then you can trust me to train you, to take
- 3:26Speaker 1: care of you, to guide you, to lead you. Now,
- 3:31Speaker 1: I observe how they responded. And here is a remarkable thing. Immediately,
- 3:37Speaker 1: they left their nets and they followed him. Look at
- 3:42Speaker 1: this next couple of men. Going on a little farther,
- 3:47Speaker 1: he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. Now,
- 3:53Speaker 1: where were they? Well, they are in the boat. In
- 3:57Speaker 1: their case, they're mending nets. The others were casting. These
- 4:03Speaker 1: men are sitting in their boats, and they're mending their nets.
- 4:08Speaker 1: What do we read? Immediately, he called them. What was
- 4:14Speaker 1: their response? They left their father, Zebedee in the boat
- 4:19Speaker 1: with the hired servants, and they went away to follow him.
- 4:26Speaker 1: No reluctance. If there were questions, we don't read of them.
- 4:32Speaker 1: If there was hesitation, Mark doesn't tell us about it.
- 4:37Speaker 1: They simply followed him. Now let me pause and interject
- 4:40Speaker 1: a couple of thoughts that I think might be helpful
- 4:44Speaker 1: before I apply all of this, because this is not
- 4:46Speaker 1: a history lesson or a geography lesson. This is a
- 4:49Speaker 1: spiritual direction for all of us. This is a message
- 4:53Speaker 1: for every one of us. But let me mention a
- 4:55Speaker 1: couple of things. First, Jesus knew much more than he promised.
- 5:01Speaker 1: He told them they would become fishers of men and
- 5:04Speaker 1: he left it at that. But there was so much
- 5:06Speaker 1: more he knew. He knew what that would include, the
- 5:10Speaker 1: training process of those next three and a half years.
- 5:14Speaker 1: There would be privation. There would be pain. There would
- 5:18Speaker 1: be exhaustion. There would be times of exhilaration and celebration.
- 5:25Speaker 1: There would be occasions when the scene would be so
- 5:28Speaker 1: dark they wouldn't know what to do. Being unable to
- 5:31Speaker 1: cast out demons. They've never been around the demonic realm.
- 5:34Speaker 1: They'll be in the midst of that. There will be
- 5:37Speaker 1: times of confusion. There'll be times when they're under attack,
- 5:41Speaker 1: misunderstood and misrepresented. And in fact, they'll be killed for
- 5:45Speaker 1: their walk with Christ. They don't know any of that.
- 5:48Speaker 1: Most of them became martyrs. He doesn't tell them that.
- 5:52Speaker 1: All he says, remember this, you will become fishers of men.
- 5:59Speaker 1: When your direction in life is turned from the mundane
- 6:04Speaker 1: nets and boats and water of your life, and it's
- 6:08Speaker 1: turned toward people and God is calling you in that direction,
- 6:13Speaker 1: you are in for one surprise after another. Now, the
- 6:18Speaker 1: second thing I want to mention is that Jesus saw
- 6:21Speaker 1: in them much more than he revealed. Jesus saw in
- 6:26Speaker 1: them much more than he revealed. Let's take Simon Peter.
- 6:32Speaker 1: Peter saw himself as just a fisherman. Jesus saw other
- 6:37Speaker 1: things deep within him. He saw Simon casting his net,
- 6:41Speaker 1: but at the same time, he saw 3,000 souls being
- 6:44Speaker 1: saved by a single sermon that Peter would deliver years ahead.
- 6:50Speaker 1: He saw Peter and he saw Gentiles being added to
- 6:53Speaker 1: the church. He saw Peter and he saw a man
- 6:57Speaker 1: carrying a cross to Execution Hill, faithful unto death, even
- 7:01Speaker 1: the death of the cross. He saw Peter and he
- 7:04Speaker 1: saw a name being written down in glory, engraved with
- 7:07Speaker 1: an iron pen. Never doubt it. When he calls you,
- 7:11Speaker 1: he sees you not as what you are, but as
- 7:14Speaker 1: what you are to become. Trust me on this. When
- 7:18Speaker 1: God first calls us into his calling and work, the
- 7:23Speaker 1: people who see us today would never have believed it
- 7:26Speaker 1: back then because of the work the Lord is doing
- 7:30Speaker 1: as he teaches us to become fishers of men and women. Now,
- 7:36Speaker 1: the invitation of Jesus today. I have three searching questions
- 7:40Speaker 1: that I want to linger on with you for the
- 7:42Speaker 1: next few minutes because this is, as I say, this
- 7:45Speaker 1: is all about a spiritual lesson today as much as
- 7:48Speaker 1: it is about the teaching of the passage of Scripture.
- 7:51Speaker 1: Three searching questions. The first one is this, based on
- 7:55Speaker 1: what we have just read about Peter and Andrew and
- 7:59Speaker 1: James and John. Where does the Lord find you today?
- 8:04Speaker 1: Where does the Lord find you today?
- 8:08Speaker 2: Okay.
- 8:09Speaker 1: He sees you inside and out. He knows your past
- 8:13Speaker 1: as well as your future. He knows your potential, though
- 8:18Speaker 1: you are probably blind to most of it. Jesus started
- 8:23Speaker 1: where these men were. He saw them just where they were,
- 8:28Speaker 1: and he took them to where he had in mind
- 8:31Speaker 1: for them. Stay with the thought. I'll come back to
- 8:33Speaker 1: it in a few moments. Where does the Lord find
- 8:36Speaker 1: you today? Second question, please write it down. What's the
- 8:41Speaker 1: Lord's calling in your life? Put it down just like
- 8:45Speaker 1: I gave it to you. What is the Lord's calling
- 8:48Speaker 1: in your life? I'm not referring necessarily to a geographical move,
- 8:53Speaker 1: though it may include that. I'm not saying that you
- 8:56Speaker 1: need to get into some form of occupation that's different
- 8:59Speaker 1: than what you're in, though you may. Here's what I'm
- 9:02Speaker 1: interested in. Do you have a reason for being Put
- 9:08Speaker 1: another way, do you have a focused sense of purpose?
- 9:15Speaker 1: Or do you just sort of take one day from
- 9:17Speaker 1: one dawn to the next? After another day, after another day.
- 9:21Speaker 1: Do you have a focused sense of purpose? For these
- 9:26Speaker 1: four men, did you get the sense of purpose? You're
- 9:30Speaker 1: going to become fishers of men. Once that commanding calling
- 9:37Speaker 1: arrested their attention, they lost virtually all interest in fishing.
- 9:43Speaker 1: Rarely do you find them returning to the sea, except
- 9:48Speaker 1: in the mission of the Lord at sea. They left it,
- 9:52Speaker 1: and they truly left it behind them. It was no
- 9:56Speaker 1: longer their reason for existence. What's the Lord's calling in
- 10:01Speaker 1: your life? What purpose has he given you that transcends occupation?
- 10:08Speaker 1: It transcends your age. It transcends your familiar world. Here's
- 10:15Speaker 1: the third one and it's the one that stings most.
- 10:20Speaker 1: How long will it take you to say yes? How
- 10:23Speaker 1: long will it take you to say yes to the
- 10:27Speaker 1: Lord's calling? Now, I want to speak to some of
- 10:31Speaker 1: you who are the insecure type. You're waiting until all
- 10:35Speaker 1: of your questions are answered. You're weighing all the options.
- 10:40Speaker 1: Trust me, don't waste your time. You'll never say yes
- 10:44Speaker 1: because you'll never get all those questions answered. If you're
- 10:46Speaker 1: a perfectionist, the Lord's got his work cut out for you.
- 10:50Speaker 1: Because it takes you a long time to get through
- 10:52Speaker 1: all the perfectionistic details of every part of the future
- 10:56Speaker 1: being worked out ahead of time. Same thing for risks.
- 10:59Speaker 1: If you're wanting all the risks removed before you tolerate
- 11:03Speaker 1: the thought of yes, you're doomed to a perpetual no.
- 11:08Speaker 1: If you're willing to take him at his word and
- 11:10Speaker 1: trust him to lead you just as he trusts you
- 11:13Speaker 1: to follow him, then your answer is not only yes,
- 11:16Speaker 1: it can be today an immediate yes. An immediate yes. Now,
- 11:22Speaker 1: why would I say that? Because I know what I'm
- 11:25Speaker 1: talking about today. And because I know my story better
- 11:29Speaker 1: than yours, I'm going to have to ask you to
- 11:30Speaker 1: please listen to my story. And I give you mine
- 11:34Speaker 1: because it's the one I know the most details about.
- 11:39Speaker 1: I was casting nets and mending nets and working the
- 11:42Speaker 1: boats and familiar with the sea in a ministry for
- 11:47Speaker 1: almost 25 years. I had reached the ripe age of 59.
- 11:54Speaker 1: Some of you are retired before you're 59, but not me.
- 11:58Speaker 1: I was engaged in this. It was fulfilling. It was exciting.
- 12:01Speaker 1: Everything was rolling along great. And the Lord came along.
- 12:05Speaker 1: It wasn't the Sea of Galilee. It was a phone
- 12:07Speaker 1: call that came from Dallas to California. On the other
- 12:10Speaker 1: end of the line were two men I knew very well,
- 12:13Speaker 1: the president of Dallas Seminary and the chairman of the
- 12:16Speaker 1: board at that time, Jack Turpin. Jack and Don Campbell,
- 12:21Speaker 1: together on the line, called me. My first thought was, uh-oh.
- 12:28Speaker 1: Maybe they know something I don't know. They said, we'd
- 12:32Speaker 1: like you to consider being the next president of Dallas Seminary.
- 12:36Speaker 1: My response, in great faith, was hilarious laughter. You have
- 12:43Speaker 1: got to be kidding. I almost said, what are you
- 12:45Speaker 1: guys smoking? But I didn't say that. I was tempted,
- 12:49Speaker 1: but I didn't say that. You can't be serious. Oh, yeah,
- 12:55Speaker 1: we are. Come on, you guys. Let me give you
- 12:57Speaker 1: the name of five or six qualified people, okay? Let's
- 13:00Speaker 1: go there rather than waste your time with me. Hey,
- 13:02Speaker 1: I got nets. I got boats. I got sea. I
- 13:05Speaker 1: got fish. Everything's going great here. Why in the world
- 13:08Speaker 1: would I even think of it? Well, we'd like you
- 13:10Speaker 1: to think, but no, actually, I don't even need to
- 13:12Speaker 1: think about it. I know. Well, would you pray about it?
- 13:15Speaker 1: Did you hear the brakes?
- 13:16Speaker 2: Yes.
- 13:17Speaker 1: That's always a great question to ask when you feel resistance. Well,
- 13:21Speaker 1: will you pray about it? What preacher on earth would say, no,
- 13:25Speaker 1: I am not going to pray. So I say, okay.
- 13:29Speaker 1: So at supper time, I'm sitting there at supper, still
- 13:32Speaker 1: sort of chuckling to myself. I haven't started praying much.
- 13:36Speaker 1: And I'll say to Cynthia at supper, I say, you
- 13:38Speaker 1: will never guess what happened today. She said, what? I said,
- 13:40Speaker 1: I got a phone call. From Don Campbell and Jack
- 13:44Speaker 1: Turpin from Dallas Seminary. Don has resigned. A year from now,
- 13:48Speaker 1: he's going to retire from that role. And they want
- 13:50Speaker 1: a new president. And they've asked me, of all things.
- 13:53Speaker 1: She didn't laugh. Okay, at that point, I know I'm
- 13:59Speaker 1: going to kind of get in deep in this situation.
- 14:03Speaker 1: Because I have learned that the voice of the Holy
- 14:05Speaker 1: Spirit sounds a lot like the voice of Cynthia. I've
- 14:09Speaker 1: just learned that. I've just learned it. Just amazing. How
- 14:16Speaker 1: did I learn that? She told me that. And so
- 14:20Speaker 1: I laugh at her. She says, I don't think that's
- 14:23Speaker 1: a silly idea. I think you ought to think about it.
- 14:24Speaker 1: Are you kidding? Our family is here. Our home is here.
- 14:27Speaker 1: It's almost all paid for. We got the ministry. I
- 14:30Speaker 1: know that. I know that. I think you ought to
- 14:31Speaker 1: consider it. Honey, come on. So we slept on it
- 14:35Speaker 1: next morning. First thing I heard, I think you ought
- 14:37Speaker 1: to consider that. Honey, I can't wait to tell them no.
- 14:41Speaker 1: So she says, have you prayed about it? So now
- 14:45Speaker 1: I got to start praying. Not that I've got to
- 14:48Speaker 1: start praying, but you know what I mean. So I
- 14:50Speaker 1: go to the Lord in prayer. And while I'm praying,
- 14:53Speaker 1: I'm thinking of six or eight other guys that could
- 14:56Speaker 1: do the job. So I pray for the Lord to
- 14:58Speaker 1: guide me to recommending someone who's qualified to do that job.
- 15:05Speaker 1: Because I'm not the one. I mean, I have no
- 15:07Speaker 1: reason to be the one. I got it made where
- 15:09Speaker 1: I am, if you will. And that's not a good
- 15:11Speaker 1: way to put it. But you know what I mean.
- 15:12Speaker 1: Everything's familiar. I mean, I even knew the freeways. I
- 15:17Speaker 1: knew all around there. I mean, I had great friends,
- 15:19Speaker 1: all my family. Everything was going great. So they had
- 15:23Speaker 1: the audacity to call back. And I said, I've got
- 15:25Speaker 1: the names of about five or six. And they wouldn't
- 15:28Speaker 1: even listen to the names. Would you consider? And I
- 15:31Speaker 1: won't even bore you with the process. but it was
- 15:34Speaker 1: a call. It broke all the rules of what you
- 15:40Speaker 1: would call logic. But you see, the Lord's will isn't
- 15:44Speaker 1: necessarily humanly logical. Will you remember I said that? We
- 15:49Speaker 1: all like logic. We like one plus one equals two.
- 15:57Speaker 1: With Jesus, it's one plus one equals 15.5.7. or something
- 16:03Speaker 1: like that. And you go, what? So I tolerated the thought.
- 16:10Speaker 1: All right, I'll be on the search committee. I was
- 16:13Speaker 1: on the board, so I'll serve on the search committee.
- 16:17Speaker 1: So they reluctantly said, okay, that's good. So we sent
- 16:20Speaker 1: out questionnaires all over the country. Send back those you
- 16:25Speaker 1: think would be the right choice. I know that Don
- 16:32Speaker 1: Campbell and Jack Turpin wrote all those people ahead of
- 16:34Speaker 1: time because my name was on the top of those lists,
- 16:40Speaker 1: one list after another, after another, after another. I resigned
- 16:44Speaker 1: from the search committee and I then really did begin
- 16:49Speaker 1: to pray. I was 59 years old. In that period
- 16:54Speaker 1: of time, I come to the seminary and nobody lasts
- 16:57Speaker 1: me off the stage. It's amazing. all these bright men
- 17:00Speaker 1: and women in the faculty. And I realized they don't
- 17:04Speaker 1: need another scholar because I'm not a scholar, but I'm
- 17:07Speaker 1: a shepherd. And they had the foresight to know that
- 17:11Speaker 1: at that time in the school's history, the school needed
- 17:14Speaker 1: a shepherd. I didn't know that. And I don't know
- 17:18Speaker 1: if they would have articulated it like that, but it
- 17:21Speaker 1: kind of began to dawn on me. And while I'm there,
- 17:24Speaker 1: I'm thinking, you know, now that I'm here, since I'm
- 17:26Speaker 1: a preacher, And Cynthia helped me understand, you know, there's
- 17:30Speaker 1: these 40 languages going to work on Dallas Seminary campus,
- 17:34Speaker 1: and we could use them in our Insight for Living
- 17:36Speaker 1: ministry as translators. I mean, it makes sense. And it did.
- 17:42Speaker 1: And so I go, and while I'm there, I'm getting
- 17:44Speaker 1: acquainted with a lot of these guys, and I'm thinking,
- 17:47Speaker 1: you know what? We've got to have a laboratory where
- 17:50Speaker 1: they can learn what a church is about. Maybe I'll
- 17:55Speaker 1: start a church. How do you start a church? I
- 17:59Speaker 1: don't know. So how do you find the place to
- 18:04Speaker 1: start one? You pin a tail on a geographical donkey? Frisco. Frisco.
- 18:11Speaker 1: That's where I used to come to hunt dove. Frisco.
- 18:17Speaker 1: So I thought, well, we'll at least have a Bible class.
- 18:21Speaker 1: Some Bible class. And before I knew it, a church
- 18:25Speaker 1: was formed. Now looking back, Did God know what he
- 18:30Speaker 1: was doing? What's the answer?
- 18:33Speaker 2: Yes.
- 18:33Speaker 1: Say it again.
- 18:35Speaker 2: Yes.
- 18:36Speaker 1: Get used to saying it. Because you say, what a
- 18:40Speaker 1: great story. This isn't about me. Don't think this is
- 18:44Speaker 1: about my story. This is your story. This is their story.
- 18:50Speaker 1: They turned the world upside down because they said yes.
- 18:54Speaker 1: They were these spokesmen for the cause of Christ as
- 18:59Speaker 1: they learned to fish for men and women. To this day,
- 19:04Speaker 1: we know the names. Rock structures are named the 12 apostles.
- 19:12Speaker 1: It's amazing. These simple fishermen who had had no training
- 19:16Speaker 1: and they were Galileans except for the only one, bright
- 19:19Speaker 1: one among them, Judas. And God used them to turn
- 19:25Speaker 1: the whole tide around. Release from what was not me,
- 19:42Speaker 1: my discovery of my calling enabled me to find what
- 19:46Speaker 1: I was. God's call has become a sure beacon ahead
- 19:50Speaker 1: of me and a blazing fire within me. Keep listening.
- 19:58Speaker 1: Follow me, Jesus said 2,000 years ago, and he changed
- 20:02Speaker 1: the course of history. That is why calling provides the
- 20:07Speaker 1: Archimedean point by which faith moves the world. Answering the
- 20:14Speaker 1: call is the way to find and fulfill the central
- 20:17Speaker 1: purpose of your life. Answering the call is the way
- 20:21Speaker 1: to find and fulfill the central purpose of your life.
- 20:25Speaker 1: Do you have a reason for being? A focused sense
- 20:29Speaker 1: of purpose in your life? Or is your life the
- 20:31Speaker 1: product of shifting resolutions? Do you want to go beyond
- 20:36Speaker 1: success to significance? Have you come to realize that self-reliance
- 20:42Speaker 1: always falls short and provides no answer in the end?
- 20:47Speaker 1: Listen to Jesus of Nazareth answer his call. And if
- 20:54Speaker 1: I knew what it was, I promise you I would
- 20:56Speaker 1: stay all afternoon at the door and tell each one
- 21:00Speaker 1: of you what that call is. And then I would say,
- 21:03Speaker 1: now commit yourself to doing it. Say yes, but I
- 21:06Speaker 1: don't know what it is. I got a full-time job
- 21:09Speaker 1: taking care of this guy. So I can't tell you
- 21:12Speaker 1: what your call is. You have to determine that. I
- 21:16Speaker 1: know this, I'd have never picked Peter. I mean, all
- 21:21Speaker 1: Andrew did was just bring people to Jesus. That's all
- 21:25Speaker 1: he needed to do. James and John, sons of thunder,
- 21:29Speaker 1: with a temper like theirs, would you have chosen? No.
- 21:34Speaker 1: You wouldn't have hired any of the 12. Well, maybe Judas.
- 21:39Speaker 1: He's bright. So don't give me the line that, well,
- 21:43Speaker 1: I'm not really qualified. I've been there. Well, you don't understand, Chuck.
- 21:48Speaker 1: I mean, we've got a whole family. I've been there. Well,
- 21:51Speaker 1: you don't realize, Chuck, I've got to take care of my,
- 21:54Speaker 1: I mean, I am deep in debt. I've been there.
- 21:58Speaker 1: You want all those questions answered, you're doomed to a
- 22:00Speaker 1: perpetual no. You need to practice yes. So let's start
- 22:04Speaker 1: right now. Yes.
- 22:05Speaker 2: Okay? Yes. Yes.
- 22:08Speaker 1: Some of you, your face doesn't know it yet. Here
- 22:12Speaker 1: we go again. Yes. We're almost there. Here again. Yes.
- 22:19Speaker 1: One more time. Yes. Good for you. Don't you forget
- 22:25Speaker 1: this when we don't see each other for the next
- 22:27Speaker 1: few days, okay? Don't you forget that. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Father,
- 22:34Speaker 1: for your patience with me. in this journey that I
- 22:40Speaker 1: would never have even imagined. Maybe it was for no
- 22:43Speaker 1: other reason aside from the chance today to declare how
- 22:49Speaker 1: great it has been to walk with you and to
- 22:54Speaker 1: trust you and to see you open doors I would
- 22:57Speaker 1: never have known would open and to pave the way
- 23:01Speaker 1: for a ministry I could not have even envisioned. and
- 23:06Speaker 1: to use me in the life of young men learning
- 23:09Speaker 1: to preach, young women learning to minister. Oh, Lord, what
- 23:13Speaker 1: a privilege. And now in this church, this enviable place
- 23:18Speaker 1: of ministry, how faithful you are. May this yes be
- 23:24Speaker 1: a ringing word in our ears and hearts this coming week.
- 23:28Speaker 1: May we look for a reason to say yes. May
- 23:32Speaker 1: we think yes. May we listen with yes on our lips.
- 23:40Speaker 1: Hear us today, our Father, in all of our needs
- 23:43Speaker 1: and all of our circumstances. Our answer is yes. Yes.
- 23:51Speaker 1: You can trust us to follow you because we are
- 23:53Speaker 1: going to trust you to train and lead us. This
- 23:59Speaker 1: enormous yes ringing in our hearts. We commit now this
- 24:04Speaker 1: time to you. in the name of Jesus, who himself
- 24:09Speaker 1: said yes to fulfill a mission that no one could
- 24:14Speaker 1: have ever imagined. In his name we pray, and everyone
- 24:19Speaker 1: said amen.
- 24:31Speaker 2: May that little word yes keep ringing in your heart
- 24:34Speaker 2: this week. When the Lord calls, we don't have to
- 24:37Speaker 2: have every question answered before we respond. We can trust
- 24:41Speaker 2: Him and follow, because He can be trusted to lead us.
- 24:45Speaker 2: This is Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll, our Bible teacher,
- 24:48Speaker 2: has just begun a brand new study through the Gospel
- 24:51Speaker 2: according to Mark. Because of the size of Mark's Gospel,
- 24:54Speaker 2: Chuck split this study into three volumes, and all three
- 24:58Speaker 2: Bible study workbooks for Mark are ready today. The Searching
- 25:01Speaker 2: the Scriptures Bible study workbooks are spiral-bound, and you can
- 25:05Speaker 2: find all the details for Volumes 1, 2, and 3
- 25:08Speaker 2: at insight.org. Also, I'd like to tell you about a
- 25:13Speaker 2: wonderful resource created and published by Insight for Living. Next month,
- 25:18Speaker 2: we'll begin the holiday season in earnest, and it's the
- 25:21Speaker 2: perfect time to focus on the coming King, Jesus, and
- 25:25Speaker 2: to find ways to reflect His love and generosity. Through
- 25:29Speaker 2: His birth, life, and resurrection from the grave, we've been
- 25:32Speaker 2: redeemed for a whole new purpose— In that spirit, Insight
- 25:36Speaker 2: for Living is pleased to offer a devotional book for
- 25:38Speaker 2: you and your family. It's called Everlasting Light, A Journey
- 25:42Speaker 2: from Promise to Presence. Written by Pastor Carlos Azueta along
- 25:47Speaker 2: with Chuck Swindoll, this 25-day Advent devotional will elevate your
- 25:51Speaker 2: holiday season as you celebrate the birth of Christ. It's
- 25:55Speaker 2: our gift to you when you make a generous gift
- 25:57Speaker 2: to support the ministry of Insight for Living. I think
- 26:01Speaker 2: you'd agree that our times are urgent. People need the
- 26:04Speaker 2: hope of the everlasting light. And your contribution to Insight
- 26:08Speaker 2: for Living will be applied directly toward broadcasting this message,
- 26:12Speaker 2: not only in North America, but all around the world.
- 26:15Speaker 2: To give a generous donation and request the Advent devotional
- 26:18Speaker 2: Everlasting Light, address your envelope to Insight for Living, Post
- 26:23Speaker 2: Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas 75034. You can also call
- 26:26Speaker 2: us at 800- I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck
- 26:47Speaker 2: Swindoll describes what he calls astonishing authority.
- 26:52Speaker 1: Friday on Insight for Living.
- 26:56Speaker 2: The preceding message, saying yes to Christ's call, was copyrighted
- 27:01Speaker 2: in 2010 and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted
- 27:05Speaker 2: in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
- 27:09Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.
- 27:11Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.