Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Fine Art of Insight Msg 1116 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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The Fine Art of Insight Msg 1116 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: For several months now the children of Israel under Nehemiah's
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Speaker 1: superb leadership have been rebuilding the protective wall around the
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Speaker 1: ancient city of Jerusalem. They've done that amid much criticism
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Speaker 1: and opposition. On top of that has been internal strife
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Speaker 1: and economic hardship. The leader Nehemiah has weathered the storms
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Speaker 1: and the response of the Israelites has been nothing short
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Speaker 1: of magnificent. The wall was completed That led to a
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Speaker 1: great revival that you may remember. There was much rejoicing
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Speaker 1: for their having been brought back to their homeland after
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Speaker 1: a long captivity. It was a great time of celebration.
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Speaker 1: In our last time together, we learned of this spiritual
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Speaker 1: revival as led by Ezra at the water gate. It
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Speaker 1: was just the beginning of the Israelites' desire to remodel
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Speaker 1: themselves before the Lord. In search of a solid foundation
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Speaker 1: in the law, they returned to the priest, Ezra, seeking insight,
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Speaker 1: wisdom that could be built into their daily lives. In
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Speaker 1: a grand way, those people committed themselves to clearing away
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Speaker 1: the rubble of wrong thinking and their old patterns of living,
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Speaker 1: and replacing those things with obedience to the Lord and
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Speaker 1: to His law. This very biblical method for spiritual renovation
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Speaker 1: is really an excellent model for our rebuilding our own
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Speaker 1: spiritual lives today. A wise man once said, knowledge comes,
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Speaker 1: but wisdom lingers. Knowledge is simply a collection of the facts,
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Speaker 1: what is and what was. Insight, however, connotes a deeper
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Speaker 1: understanding of what those facts imply, the consequences, for example,
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Speaker 1: or implications, perhaps significance of the facts. Knowledge doesn't necessarily
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Speaker 1: move easily into practice, but insight always leads directly to
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Speaker 1: some kind of response or action. In other words, Insight
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Speaker 1: is a singular blend of knowledge and wisdom married to
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Speaker 1: decisive results. Let me say that again. Insight is a
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Speaker 1: singular blend of knowledge and wisdom married to decisive results.
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Speaker 1: As I read our passage for today from Nehemiah 8,
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Speaker 1: verses 13-18, I want you to listen closely to the
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Speaker 1: Israelites' incredible insight as they blended it with knowledge and wisdom,
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Speaker 1: with some very decisive results. So here we go with
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Speaker 1: Nehemiah chapter 8, beginning at verse 13. Then on the
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Speaker 1: second day, the heads of fathers' households of all the people,
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Speaker 1: the priests and the Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe,
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Speaker 1: that they might gain insight into the words of the law.
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Speaker 1: They found written in the law how the Lord had
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Speaker 1: commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live
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Speaker 1: in booths during the feast of the seventh month. So
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Speaker 1: they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities
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Speaker 1: and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the hills and
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Speaker 1: bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches,
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Speaker 1: branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it
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Speaker 1: is written. So the people went out and brought them
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Speaker 1: and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and
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Speaker 1: in their courts, and in the courts of the house
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Speaker 1: of God, and in the square at the water gate,
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Speaker 1: and in the square at the gate of Ephraim. The
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Speaker 1: entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity
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Speaker 1: made booths, and lived in them. The sons of Israel
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Speaker 1: had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua,
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Speaker 1: the son of Nun, to that day, and there was
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Speaker 1: great rejoicing. He read from the book of the law
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Speaker 1: of God daily, from the first day to the last day,
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Speaker 1: and they celebrated the feast seven days. And on the
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Speaker 1: eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.
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Speaker 2: It probably would be good for us to brush off
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Speaker 2: the dust of a few of the previous chapters of
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Speaker 2: Nehemiah in review before we settle in on the last
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Speaker 2: few verses in chapter 8. Let's approach it from a
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Speaker 2: different point of view than we have before. I think
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Speaker 2: Nehemiah really falls into the two sections mainly The first
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Speaker 2: six chapters and the last seven chapters. In the first
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Speaker 2: six chapters, we have the reconstruction.
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Speaker 3: Of the wall.
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Speaker 2: The last seven, we have the re-instruction of the people
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Speaker 2: who built that wall.
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Speaker 3: In the first six chapters, we.
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Speaker 2: Have a dominant character in Nehemiah, who was the builder
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Speaker 2: and the superintendent over the job, and ultimately the governor
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Speaker 2: of the city of Jerusalem. But in the last seven chapters,
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Speaker 2: the leadership shifts to Ezra, who was a priest.
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Speaker 3: And a scribe.
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Speaker 2: He was, you may remember, the one who led the
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Speaker 2: beginnings of the revival that we read of in the
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Speaker 2: first part of chapter 8. But all the way through
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Speaker 2: the book, there is threaded one theme, and that is leadership.
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Speaker 2: How God uses one person to sway and move and
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Speaker 2: motivate and encourage others, many others, into new fields, new vistas,
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Speaker 2: new actions to change. The first six chapters he uses Nehemiah,
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Speaker 2: and the last seven he uses Ezra. Now, in the
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Speaker 2: first part of chapter 8, you may remember that the
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Speaker 2: revival of the word of God had a telling effect
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Speaker 2: upon the people. They who heard the word read before
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Speaker 2: them by Ezra, according to verses 1 and 2 and
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Speaker 2: 3 of chapter 8, were thrilled with what they heard.
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Speaker 3: In fact, verse 8 says that they.
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Speaker 2: who read from the book translated it so that they
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Speaker 2: gave the sense of it. And the result was understanding.
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Speaker 2: In other words, the people who had built the wall,
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Speaker 2: now secure behind the wall, began to have input from
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Speaker 2: God's word.
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Speaker 3: And it motivated them. I suppose it could be compared
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Speaker 3: to the people.
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Speaker 2: As the workmen in the first six chapters and God
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Speaker 2: as the workmen in the last seven. In the first
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Speaker 2: six chapters, they are engaged in the project of building
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Speaker 2: a wall, a physical project. But in the last seven,
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Speaker 2: God is engaged in a spiritual project building into their lives.
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Speaker 3: It's like salvation.
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Speaker 2: For a period of time, God brings us to a
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Speaker 2: knowledge of his son, and then we ultimately receive Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 2: We have, at that point, to use this analogy.
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Speaker 3: Built the wall.
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Speaker 2: We have been placed securely behind it. And then God
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Speaker 2: begins that beautiful work daily of instruction, building into us
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Speaker 2: truths for the Christian life, which we otherwise could not
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Speaker 2: and would not know. And so as a result of
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Speaker 2: understanding what they read from the book, the Bible tells
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Speaker 2: us that they had two reactions. According to 9 and 10,
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Speaker 2: they wept because they were grieved over the sin of
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Speaker 2: the past. They looked back and they remembered those failures.
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Speaker 3: Of the past.
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Speaker 2: And I'm sure a great sense of inferiority came upon
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Speaker 2: them as they knew they had not tapped the best
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Speaker 2: riches of God. But the men who led them said,
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Speaker 2: don't weep. It's like crying on the 4th of July.
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Speaker 2: It's like weeping through Christmas Day. Those are celebration days.
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Speaker 2: Those are days when you look back and you think
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Speaker 2: of the commemoration of what that day means.
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Speaker 3: You rejoice, you celebrate. And so in the 11th.
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Speaker 2: And 12th verses, they celebrated that great festival. Now, the
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Speaker 2: festival technically was a festival known as Tabernacles, more specifically
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Speaker 2: the festival of booths, B-O-O-T-H-S, booths.
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Speaker 3: Here's what it meant.
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Speaker 2: It meant that they, all the way through their lives,
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Speaker 2: once a year, were to remember a period of time
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Speaker 2: in the history of the Jews when they lived in
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Speaker 2: temporary quarters, when they were redeemed from Egypt under Moses
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Speaker 2: until they went into Canaan under Joshua. For those 40 years,
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Speaker 2: they didn't really have their own homes out of brick
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Speaker 2: and mortar. They lived in temporary quarters. So once a year,
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Speaker 2: the people of God were to build themselves little homemade shacks,
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Speaker 2: to use a very honest term about it.
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Speaker 3: They were to gather.
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Speaker 2: Wood and sticks and leaves and branches from around, and
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Speaker 2: then they were to build little booths, and they were
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Speaker 2: to live in these booths. Family members were. And living
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Speaker 2: in these booths for seven days out of the year,
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Speaker 2: that was their commemoration of that period of time in
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Speaker 2: the historical Jewish tradition, when their forefathers had lived like
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Speaker 2: that for 40 years. Now, when they became aware of that,
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Speaker 2: understanding set in.
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Speaker 3: I want to make a point of that because I
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Speaker 3: want to build on it. You'll notice the last part
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Speaker 3: of verse 12 in chapter 8. They understood the words
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Speaker 3: which had been made known to them. What had happened?
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Speaker 2: Well, for a full day, they had gathered facts from
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Speaker 2: the scriptures. They had gained what I would like to
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Speaker 2: call a surface knowledge.
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Speaker 3: That's understanding. We can be exposed.
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Speaker 2: To biblical truth so long that we build what I
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Speaker 2: would call a reservoir of truth.
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Speaker 3: But this is mere knowledge. It isn't wisdom. As we
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Speaker 3: will see, it isn't insight. It's knowledge.
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Speaker 2: But that isn't all that God has for his children.
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Speaker 2: God longs for us To have something more than knowledge.
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Speaker 3: It is insight. Let me show you.
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Speaker 2: Verse 13. Then on the second day. The second day
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Speaker 2: of what?
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Speaker 3: Of the festival. The first day they had been in mass.
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Speaker 3: In this assembly. Listening to Ezra preach God's word. Then
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Speaker 3: on the second day.
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Speaker 2: A select few came back to Ezra, according to verse 13.
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Speaker 3: Who were they? Well, they were the heads of the
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Speaker 3: father's households. They were the priests.
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Speaker 2: They were the Levites who gathered to Ezra the scribe
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Speaker 2: that they might gain insight into the words of the law.
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Speaker 2: I must have read that verse over two, maybe three
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Speaker 2: dozen times aloud while I was away, thinking about what
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Speaker 2: God was saying in these few verses that remain in
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Speaker 2: chapter 8. And I think I've landed on something that
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Speaker 2: the hurried reader, even myself, would normally overlook. I want
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Speaker 2: to camp on this idea of gaining insight.
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Speaker 3: For a few moments. First I want to analyze.
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Speaker 2: The word and then I want to talk about how
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Speaker 2: it can be pursued and what are the results of
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Speaker 2: that pursuit in our daily living. First of all, let's
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Speaker 2: think about the word itself.
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Speaker 3: Insight.
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Speaker 2: It is the translation of a Hebrew term that means
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Speaker 2: to be prudent. Now that doesn't help us much, does it?
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Speaker 2: I doubt that anybody has used the word prudent for
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Speaker 2: a month in all this congregation. We don't use the
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Speaker 2: word prudent. It's kind of archaic. We've passed it by.
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Speaker 2: But if you were to check Webster to find the
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Speaker 2: meaning of prudent, you would discover that it means to
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Speaker 2: have foresight, wisdom. It means to be shrewd in the
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Speaker 2: practical management of of daily life or daily affairs. Now
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Speaker 2: that might have come across too fast. To be prudent
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Speaker 2: means to have foresight. That is, not to be so
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Speaker 2: anchored to today that you cannot project into tomorrow. Not
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Speaker 2: only with regard to schedule, but with regard to situations.
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Speaker 2: A prudent person isn't anchored to the now. He can
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Speaker 2: see the results of his.
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Speaker 3: Now ahead of time. He is wise. She is wise
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Speaker 3: in life.
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Speaker 2: This person is able to deal with practical management of living.
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Speaker 3: In a meaningful, correct fashion. That's insight. That's insight.
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Speaker 2: You can have a knowledge of Bible facts. Up to
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Speaker 2: here you can have it. You can be 40 years
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Speaker 2: in a Bible teaching church and have no insight.
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Speaker 3: You can have truth spelled.
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Speaker 2: Out in a teaching fashion, systematically, book by book, verse
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Speaker 2: by verse, and not gain insight.
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Speaker 3: Insight comes, as we will talk.
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Speaker 2: About today, in a different way. Turn from Nehemiah 8
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Speaker 2: to Psalm 119. I want to show you something about
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Speaker 2: the benefit of God's word that may have passed out
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Speaker 2: of your memory in these last few weeks. Psalm 119
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Speaker 2: is the longest of all the psalms, and I think
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Speaker 2: in many ways it is the richest. In the 97th
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Speaker 2: through 100th verses of this great psalm, we have laid
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Speaker 2: out for us three benefits.
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Speaker 3: Of the word of God in the life of the
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Speaker 3: child of God. 97 of 119 is a praise verse.
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Speaker 2: Oh, says the writer, how I love thy law. It's
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Speaker 2: my meditation all the day. David was saying this, when
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Speaker 2: I come to God's word and I pour over its
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Speaker 2: pages early in the morning, it stays with me through
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Speaker 2: the day. Whether I'm at work judging in a particular
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Speaker 2: situation among the people of Israel, whether I am out
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Speaker 2: taking a walk, whether I am correcting my child, whether
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Speaker 2: I am engaged in some Difficult decision God's word is
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Speaker 2: a meditation through my day Well, what are the benefits
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Speaker 2: of having the word as one's daily meditation there are
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Speaker 2: three first Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies
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Speaker 2: When you really get a hold of the scriptures in
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Speaker 2: an insightful way you can handle conflicts with enemies.
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Speaker 3: For they are ever mine.
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Speaker 2: When I come across people that rub me, that turn
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Speaker 2: against me, I can handle that because of the word
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Speaker 2: and its truths in my life. The second benefit, verse 99,
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Speaker 2: I have more.
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Speaker 3: Insight than all my teachers.
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Speaker 2: Wow, is the best response to that, I would think.
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Speaker 2: Do you know that you can go back to school,
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Speaker 2: as some of you have done, even with your family raised,
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Speaker 2: and you can get a higher degree and yet a
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Speaker 2: higher degree and yet gain only surface knowledge.
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Speaker 3: But if you mix with that.
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Speaker 2: Good and commendable discipline of higher learning, the teachings of
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Speaker 2: the book, you will know more insight toward living than
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Speaker 2: your teacher, who has a breadth of physical academic knowledge.
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Speaker 2: By the way, this is one of the reasons I
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Speaker 2: encourage Christians to enter the teaching field. In my opinion,
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Speaker 2: the Christian teacher that has a real grasp of his subject,
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Speaker 2: whatever it may be, along with a meaningful grasp of
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Speaker 2: the Bible, provides incredible insight to those under his tutelage
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Speaker 2: or under her teaching. By the insight of God's Word
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Speaker 2: gives you something that even the teacher doesn't.
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Speaker 3: Have.
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Speaker 2: Look at verse 100. I understand more than the agent.
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Speaker 2: You don't have to be old to have understanding if
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Speaker 2: you know the word of God. Job says great men
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Speaker 2: are not always wise, neither do the aged always understand.
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Speaker 2: Just because a person is old doesn't mean he has understanding.
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Speaker 2: But David says here, when you have the word.
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Speaker 3: You've got it. That is understanding.
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Speaker 2: Now what interests me is verse 99. And I've taken
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Speaker 2: time on it because I wanted to develop a case.
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Speaker 2: I have more insight than all my teachers. That's the
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Speaker 2: same word translated insight in chapter 8, verse 13 of Nehemiah.
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Speaker 3: Let's go back.
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Speaker 2: Nehemiah 8.13 says, These men gathered together that they might
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Speaker 2: gain more than knowledge. They got that on the first day.
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Speaker 2: They wanted in-depth understanding.
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Speaker 3: They wanted insight. Now let's talk about it. Since it
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Speaker 3: seems clear from Scripture that insight is something God loves
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Speaker 3: to give his children, and it's certainly proven in this
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Speaker 3: 13th verse as well as Psalm 119 that insight is beneficial,
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Speaker 3: let's talk about how it is pursued. I find in
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Speaker 3: verses 13 through 15 five specific verses Things that are
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Speaker 3: part of the pursuit. First of all, it takes.
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Speaker 2: Time to gain insight. No one suddenly becomes wise.
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Speaker 3: That takes time.
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Speaker 2: David has already told us in the 119th Psalm that
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Speaker 2: you don't have to be old to have understanding. But
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Speaker 2: you and I know that there is no such thing.
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Speaker 3: As instant insight. No novice in the Christian life.
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Speaker 2: Has a depth of insight. You will notice that they
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Speaker 2: came on the second day back to this individual. And
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Speaker 2: that tells me it takes time. The first encounter won't
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Speaker 2: do it. I see something else here. It takes the
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Speaker 2: right people. Look at the 13th verse. These men came
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Speaker 2: to one individual, Ezra, that they might gain insight. Now,
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Speaker 2: I don't want to be misunderstood, and I do not
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Speaker 2: want to mislead anyone who might hear what I have
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Speaker 2: to say about the right people. Far be it from
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Speaker 2: me to say that one person is the source of
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Speaker 2: all insight. There are many people with whom we should
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Speaker 2: spend our time. And in doing so, we are able
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Speaker 2: to glean insights for living. Solomon says if you run
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Speaker 2: with an angry person, you will, in a period of time,
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Speaker 2: become angry like that person. He warns the young man
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Speaker 2: if he runs with the wrong crowd that spends its
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Speaker 2: time in thievery or lust or whatever, that young man
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Speaker 2: will be like the crowd that he runs with. The
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Speaker 2: same applies to insight. Coming to the right kind of
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Speaker 2: person is a great assist in gaining insight. What kind
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Speaker 2: of man was Ezra? Hold your place here and look
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Speaker 2: at the previous book, the book of Ezra. Chapter 7,
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Speaker 2: verse 10. I just want to point to one verse
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Speaker 2: regarding the life of Ezra. He was a rare and
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Speaker 2: essential man in his day. Ezra 7.10. Here is the
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Speaker 2: man that they came to for insight. Ezra had goals
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Speaker 2: in his life. He had set his heart to study.
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Speaker 3: The law of the Lord. Point one I want to
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Speaker 3: make under this is that a person... who.
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Speaker 2: Gives insight is a person who is a student of
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Speaker 2: the law of the Lord, the word of God. You
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Speaker 2: will not gain spiritual insight from a person who doesn't
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Speaker 2: know his Bible.
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Speaker 3: You will from those that do.
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Speaker 2: And there are many scattered through this congregation who are
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Speaker 2: people of the book, qualified, capable counselors, givers of insight.
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Speaker 2: Ezra had that major goal to study the law of
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Speaker 2: the Lord. Robert Dick Wilson was like that. If you
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Speaker 2: have studied anything of the history of Dr. Wilson, you
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Speaker 2: know that the greater part of his life was like
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Speaker 2: an iceberg. Beneath the surface of conscious waters lay years
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Speaker 2: spent in study. study of various original texts, study of
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Speaker 2: related languages that bore upon the original texts of Scripture.
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Speaker 2: Time spent alone developing himself so that by the time
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Speaker 2: he stood, he was, in many people's opinion, an older man.
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Speaker 2: But those that sat at his feet say there was
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Speaker 2: nothing like the teaching of Robert Dick Wilson.
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Speaker 3: He had made a life studied of the Word of God.
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Speaker 3: Ezra did something else. He had set his heart to
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Speaker 3: practice it. What a balance. Not just a scriptural egghead.
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Speaker 2: Not just a person that could tell you events and
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Speaker 2: dates and genealogies and inane information. As far as that's concerned, inane.
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Speaker 2: He made a study for the purpose of practicing it.
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Speaker 3: And then he didn't want to keep it. He set
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Speaker 3: his heart to share it, to teach it.
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Speaker 2: Teachers that are here today, you that are gifted in
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Speaker 2: the scriptures, you want a verse to motivate you for
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Speaker 2: your ministry, verse 10 is a good one to use.
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Speaker 2: Set your heart to be a student of the word,
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Speaker 2: to practice what you learn, and to share what you
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Speaker 2: have learned and begun to practice. Now that's the man
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Speaker 2: they came to when they came to Ezra, back to
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Speaker 2: chapter 8 of Nehemiah.
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Speaker 3: And I want to say something here that may sound strange.
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Speaker 2: Some people that are people of insight will not appeal
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Speaker 2: to you, but they.
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Speaker 3: Will appeal to others. Isn't that interesting?
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Speaker 2: Merrill Tenney at Wheaton College has said, you can never
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Speaker 2: separate truth from the one that teaches it to you.
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Speaker 2: And for some people, they have a wealth of truth
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Speaker 2: But somehow, the vibes aren't right, I guess we would say.
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Speaker 3: So a certain kind of person attracts certain kinds of people.
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Speaker 3: Another kind of person.
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Speaker 2: Attracts other kinds of people. But God's beautiful work in
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Speaker 2: his body is such that he has all different types
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Speaker 2: so that no one is left out. It's a beautiful arrangement.
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Speaker 2: They came to Ezra, apparently, Because something in him, in
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Speaker 2: his person, attracted them. They wished to go with the
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Speaker 2: right person. You spend time with the right kind of person.
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Speaker 2: As we have mentioned, insight will begin. Now there's another.
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Speaker 3: There's a third area. And that is the right attitude.
28:20
Speaker 2: Not only did it take time, not only did it
28:22
Speaker 2: take the right person, it took the right attitude. What
28:28
Speaker 2: was their attitude? Well, before I answer that question, I
28:31
Speaker 2: want you to notice something that to me is very startling.
28:35
Speaker 2: Who came to hear Ezra? Ezra was a preacher. To
28:41
Speaker 2: put it in present day terms, he was a preacher.
28:44
Speaker 2: Who came to hear him? Heads of father's households. I'm
28:50
Speaker 2: sure some of them were older than he. Some were grandfather's.
28:56
Speaker 2: And other preachers, the most unteachable group of people in
29:02
Speaker 2: the world, are those of us that are preachers. But
29:07
Speaker 2: these preachers came to Ezra, a peer of theirs, and said,
29:12
Speaker 2: Teach us.
29:14
Speaker 3: We really want to learn.
29:17
Speaker 2: You know, some of the wealth of information that God
29:20
Speaker 2: has for us will come through our peers. But our
29:25
Speaker 2: attitude is at the test at that point.
29:32
Speaker 3: As I talk about attitude.
29:33
Speaker 2: I'm reminded of an experience I had two weeks ago
29:37
Speaker 2: in the family conference. One space was left open in
29:42
Speaker 2: the conference. It was full except for one space. And
29:45
Speaker 2: a family.
29:48
Speaker 3: Chose to come at the last minute, and they filled
29:52
Speaker 3: up the camp. They were the last ones. They were
29:55
Speaker 3: at rock bottom.
29:57
Speaker 2: I'm sure that a divorce was... being planned, or at
30:01
Speaker 2: least in their minds, had certainly been considered. They had
30:04
Speaker 2: several small children, and though they on the surface were
30:08
Speaker 2: a Christian family and looked the part and sounded the
30:11
Speaker 2: part and even came to a Bible conference, their lives were, frankly,
30:18
Speaker 2: very miserable. And they sat under the sound of God's word.
30:24
Speaker 2: Olin Hendricks spoke in the evening on the making of
30:28
Speaker 2: the man of God, And it dovetailed beautifully with a
30:33
Speaker 2: few of my comments from the morning on insights into
30:37
Speaker 2: family living. As we talked about various things that pertain
30:41
Speaker 2: to the husband-wife, parent-child, child-parent relationships. And as time passed,
30:49
Speaker 2: there began to be a change in these lives. This
30:53
Speaker 2: father hung on every word. This mother had her Bible
30:59
Speaker 2: open and stayed right with us from passage to passage.
31:05
Speaker 2: And through the afternoon's discussion, talking, until the last day,
31:12
Speaker 2: Saturday morning, they came up to my wife and then
31:17
Speaker 2: to me. They said, we want you to know that
31:20
Speaker 2: this week has been a 180 degree experience for us.
31:26
Speaker 2: We came together. Ready to separate. We're going back stronger
31:31
Speaker 2: than we have ever been in our marriage. Now that's
31:35
Speaker 2: the sort of thing that makes you want.
31:37
Speaker 3: To stick your head up and say, Hallelujah!
31:40
Speaker 2: When you hear something like that. Except for the fact
31:45
Speaker 2: there is another story. Same conference. Same speakers. Same truths.
31:52
Speaker 2: Same building. Same schedules. But another father was turned off.
32:02
Speaker 3: He wasn't open.
32:04
Speaker 2: He attended the first several sessions and by and by
32:07
Speaker 2: the guilt became so great and the conviction so deep.
32:13
Speaker 2: He went home and he stayed awake all one night.
32:16
Speaker 2: Decided not to go back. And that family left hurting.
32:24
Speaker 2: Perhaps more than before. What was the difference?
32:30
Speaker 3: Attitude.
32:33
Speaker 2: Some of you can come to meetings, church services, and
32:39
Speaker 2: it does nothing. In fact, it turns you off more.
32:45
Speaker 2: Others of you cannot get enough. Just like sponges, just get.
32:51
Speaker 3: Bigger and bigger. I mean, spiritually, just bigger and bigger.
32:55
Speaker 2: You just get more of the water of the life
32:57
Speaker 2: and it just gets larger and you just think.
32:59
Speaker 3: Man, there's no end to this. It's the most exciting
33:03
Speaker 3: thing I've ever seen. What's the difference?
33:09
Speaker 2: It's interesting, isn't it, that the same one that turns
33:12
Speaker 2: some off would turn others on.
33:16
Speaker 3: It's the attitude. That's the difference.
33:19
Speaker 2: The soil is prepared and the heart is open and
33:22
Speaker 2: it says, welcome.
33:24
Speaker 3: God speak to me. And when he speaks, what a
33:28
Speaker 3: remarkable change. A person with a bad attitude, a closed
33:34
Speaker 3: heart will never gain.
33:38
Speaker 2: Insight until the attitude is changed. The longer I live,
33:44
Speaker 2: the more I value the importance of the attitude. We
33:50
Speaker 2: will discipline in our home as readily for a bad attitude.
33:54
Speaker 2: As we will for a bad action. Because attitude determines actions.
34:03
Speaker 2: Now they had the right attitude. They had the right source.
34:08
Speaker 2: Verse 14. Lest you be misled into thinking that Ezra
34:12
Speaker 2: was the source. Let me show you something. How does
34:17
Speaker 2: verse 14 begin? And they found written in the law.
34:21
Speaker 2: Was Ezra the source of the truth?
34:24
Speaker 3: Not at all. He was a messenger boy. What was
34:29
Speaker 3: the source? God's book.
34:32
Speaker 2: The last part of verse 13 says they gained insight
34:35
Speaker 2: into the words of the law.
34:38
Speaker 3: They found written in the law. Verse 15 concludes, as
34:42
Speaker 3: it is written. Can't you picture that? Granddads, dads, preachers.
34:49
Speaker 3: I just can't get over that. Preachers in groups, learning.
34:53
Speaker 3: being taught, doing Bible study, as it were, discussing.
34:59
Speaker 2: And in the catharsis of that experience, insight began to bud,
35:05
Speaker 2: began to come in the right context, the right source.
35:12
Speaker 2: They didn't quibble over the authorship of Moses or the
35:16
Speaker 2: technique of interpretation or even the preservation of scripture. They
35:21
Speaker 2: came and they went to God's word And they said, Lord, teach.
35:27
Speaker 3: And he did. Give us insight. And he did. I
35:31
Speaker 3: was given a book years ago.
35:33
Speaker 2: And in the fly leaf of the book, the one
35:35
Speaker 2: who gave it to me wrote these words. Whom have we, Lord,
35:39
Speaker 2: but thee?
35:40
Speaker 3: So thirst to satisfy.
35:43
Speaker 2: Exhaustless spring. The water is free. All other streams are dry.
35:52
Speaker 2: You know the problem with modern man? His streams haven't
35:56
Speaker 2: dried up. He hasn't come to an end of his
36:01
Speaker 2: own streams.
36:05
Speaker 3: His own ability, his own knowledge. They came saying, we
36:12
Speaker 3: want what God has said, period.
36:20
Speaker 2: You know, You cannot really glean insight from Scripture unless
36:34
Speaker 2: you are spending time in the Scriptures.
36:45
Speaker 3: Are you?
36:50
Speaker 2: There are certain things that go together in life. Patience
36:58
Speaker 2: and trials. They go together. Let me give you a
37:02
Speaker 2: little bit of head start on a prayer. Don't pray, Lord,
37:11
Speaker 2: teach me patience. Unless you are ready for the roof
37:18
Speaker 2: to cave in. The American's prayer is, Lord, teach me patience.
37:23
Speaker 2: And I want it right now. But God says, you
37:26
Speaker 2: ask for patience. Through tribulation, patience will be developed. It's
37:35
Speaker 2: like taking a correspondence course in water skiing in your
37:39
Speaker 2: living room.
37:41
Speaker 3: You ever thought about doing that?
37:42
Speaker 2: You get a book on it. You stand on your skis.
37:45
Speaker 2: You got the book in your hand. Put left foot
37:49
Speaker 2: a little bit forward. Hold reins.
37:52
Speaker 3: You know, lean back. Act like you're skiing. What do
37:59
Speaker 3: you have to have to ski? You've got to have water.
38:03
Speaker 3: You've got to have a boat.
38:06
Speaker 2: Without it, you'll never learn to water ski. God doesn't
38:11
Speaker 2: drop insight out of a cloud.
38:16
Speaker 3: Into your head. It comes through this book.
38:23
Speaker 2: Every insightful Christian that I've ever had the pleasure of
38:27
Speaker 2: spending time with.
38:30
Speaker 3: Has poured over this book.
38:34
Speaker 2: Many of them not even engaged in vocational Christian service,
38:38
Speaker 2: but on their own have made it a real study.
38:43
Speaker 2: That brings us to the fifth, and that's the right response.
38:47
Speaker 2: After the time and the right people, the situation being
38:51
Speaker 2: all that it should be, the right source the right attitude,
38:55
Speaker 2: then there is the right response that follows. Thomas Jefferson
38:59
Speaker 2: has said, when the heart is right, the feet are swift.
39:04
Speaker 3: That's true. When your heart says, Lord, teach me, and he.
39:08
Speaker 2: Shows you, you say, thanks, Lord, now help me put
39:12
Speaker 2: it into practice.
39:14
Speaker 3: When the heart says, I'm open, then the feet say,
39:17
Speaker 3: let's go. Now, what do these people do? Well, it
39:21
Speaker 3: says in verse 15, after they They heard that they
39:24
Speaker 3: should live in booths.
39:26
Speaker 2: They proclaimed and circulated a proclamation. in all their cities
39:32
Speaker 2: now picture that they went around in all of those
39:35
Speaker 2: areas saying go out to the hills bring olive branches
39:41
Speaker 2: wild olive branches myrtle branches palm branches and.
39:47
Speaker 3: Build yourself a shack How about that?
39:56
Speaker 2: After they heard what God had said, they did what
40:02
Speaker 2: God had said, which is a perfect place to turn
40:06
Speaker 2: from pursuit to product. The first product of insight is
40:13
Speaker 2: personal effort in spite of the difficulty. I especially want
40:19
Speaker 2: the dads to listen right now.
40:20
Speaker 3: Okay, fathers?
40:23
Speaker 2: We have to be among the laziest members of our families.
40:26
Speaker 2: It's the dads that have the trouble turning off the
40:29
Speaker 2: TV more than the moms.
40:33
Speaker 3: It's the dad that has trouble.
40:34
Speaker 2: Consistently maintaining the walk with the Lord more than mom.
40:39
Speaker 2: We pick on the moms too much. Moms are trying
40:43
Speaker 2: to follow the leadership of the dads. And look what
40:46
Speaker 2: they have to follow.
40:48
Speaker 3: Dads, we're lazy.
40:53
Speaker 2: And when God's word says something, he doesn't ask for
40:58
Speaker 2: a discussion. He doesn't say, now, class and session, are
41:04
Speaker 2: there any questions?
41:06
Speaker 3: He says, it is written. Let it be done.
41:11
Speaker 2: These people actually proclaimed that they were to live in booths.
41:20
Speaker 3: Now look at verse 16.
41:21
Speaker 2: This has to have a little bit of humor, if
41:23
Speaker 2: you would allow me.
41:25
Speaker 3: So the people went out. He's an intelligent, grown man.
41:30
Speaker 3: Picture this. They went out.
41:33
Speaker 2: And brought them and made booths for themselves, each on
41:38
Speaker 2: his roof.
41:40
Speaker 3: Now, can you picture that?
41:42
Speaker 2: Some guy had his training in electrical engineering, going out,
41:46
Speaker 2: bringing in sticks, branches, building up thing on his roof
41:54
Speaker 2: and in the courts and in the courts of the
41:56
Speaker 2: house of God and in the gate of Ephraim and
41:59
Speaker 2: in the water gate picture Sanballat Tobiah outside the wall.
42:06
Speaker 3: Everybody's leaving.
42:08
Speaker 2: The enemy says where are you going gonna go get
42:12
Speaker 2: some sticks gonna go get some what we're gonna get
42:18
Speaker 2: some sticks for what.
42:22
Speaker 3: For shacks. You're going to go get some sticks for
42:27
Speaker 3: some shacks. Right. Come on, kids.
42:30
Speaker 2: There's some myrtle leaves over here. I want you to
42:32
Speaker 2: carry a handful back. By and by, they get all
42:36
Speaker 2: of this bundle up and they walk back into the city.
42:40
Speaker 2: They dump it down. An old sand ballot is looking
42:42
Speaker 2: over the wall, taking it all in. Can you picture that?
42:46
Speaker 2: Can you picture the ridicule that must have gone on?
42:49
Speaker 2: Some guy's up on his roof putting together this little
42:52
Speaker 2: lean to.
42:54
Speaker 3: We don't ever picture things like that.
42:56
Speaker 2: We think everything's got a halo over it, perfect little boots,
42:58
Speaker 2: you know, like they build in seminaries and Bible colleges,
43:02
Speaker 2: perfect little boots.
43:04
Speaker 3: These things look like dumps. They were all over the
43:07
Speaker 3: city of Jerusalem.
43:09
Speaker 2: And San Val says, man, not only can they not
43:11
Speaker 2: build a wall, they cannot build houses.
43:14
Speaker 3: Look at those houses.
43:16
Speaker 2: And all of this was going on by intelligent people.
43:21
Speaker 2: They went to the work involved in getting it all together.
43:29
Speaker 3: I am impressed all the time.
43:36
Speaker 2: Those that really put together scriptural truth are those that
43:41
Speaker 2: go to the effort.
43:43
Speaker 3: They pay the price. You know why you don't have
43:48
Speaker 3: more scriptural truth in your life? Because you don't go
43:51
Speaker 3: to the effort. That's why. Forget the rationalization, the excuses.
43:57
Speaker 3: You simply don't want to do it. God says, you
44:02
Speaker 3: have offended somebody else and you know that you have
44:05
Speaker 3: offended someone else. There's one thing.
44:10
Speaker 2: You go and apologize, seek forgiveness and make it right.
44:15
Speaker 2: Reconcile that relationship.
44:18
Speaker 3: Don't come to me with all your prayers.
44:22
Speaker 2: Don't think that six months in the church, never missing
44:25
Speaker 2: a service, will make up for that.
44:27
Speaker 3: You've got to go. What do we say? A person
44:32
Speaker 3: with insight says, where is he?
44:36
Speaker 2: I'll go.
44:38
Speaker 3: Forgetting the pride and the embarrassment, I'll make it right.
44:42
Speaker 3: God says you have a child and the child is
44:44
Speaker 3: not obedient and that little child is willfully standing against
44:49
Speaker 3: what you know to be the truth.
44:51
Speaker 2: Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child
44:53
Speaker 2: and the rod of correction will drive it from him
44:56
Speaker 2: and the Christian parent does everything but discipline. God says
45:02
Speaker 2: to us, if you want to get to know me,
45:04
Speaker 2: we've got to have some time together.
45:06
Speaker 3: Don't give me the business about being too busy. Let's
45:09
Speaker 3: get alone together.
45:10
Speaker 2: Let you and I spend some time And the person
45:14
Speaker 2: with insight says, what time? Lawrence Sandy said the first
45:20
Speaker 2: time he really got a hold of Dawson Trotman and
45:23
Speaker 2: begged for some time with that man of God, with
45:25
Speaker 2: all of his insight, Trotman says, okay, I'll meet you
45:27
Speaker 2: in the morning at the lake.
45:31
Speaker 3: Fine, what time? Five o'clock. Five o'clock. Okay, I'll be there.
45:38
Speaker 3: You know, Sandy would say, you'd think God was awake
45:41
Speaker 3: at five o'clock in the morning.
45:42
Speaker 2: So he got up. rustled around, got dressed, went all
45:45
Speaker 2: the way down to the lake, and there was Trotman,
45:47
Speaker 2: had a fire going. Now, unless you've built a fire lately,
45:51
Speaker 2: you can't appreciate what time Trotman got there by the
45:54
Speaker 2: lake to build a fire.
45:56
Speaker 3: Willing to pay the price. When the heart is right,
46:00
Speaker 3: the feet are swift. Effort.
46:04
Speaker 2: When God gives you insight, not knowledge, when he gives
46:08
Speaker 2: you insight, you say, Lord, take over!
46:14
Speaker 3: Nothing in my life is bound up. It's closed off.
46:19
Speaker 3: Here are the keys.
46:21
Speaker 2: You can have access to the closet, the kitchen, the
46:24
Speaker 2: living room, the study.
46:27
Speaker 3: Take it. These men put together those little booths.
46:34
Speaker 2: Because God said to do it. Second, willingness to change
46:41
Speaker 2: in spite of traditions. Ask some people, how long have
46:47
Speaker 2: you lived here?
46:49
Speaker 3: 43 years. Really? How's your walk with the Lord? Struggling.
46:54
Speaker 3: What if God said he wanted you to live somewhere else? Oh, no.
46:59
Speaker 3: Why not? Because I've been here 43 years. What's 43
47:03
Speaker 3: years got to do with doing the will of God? Well,
47:07
Speaker 3: all my roots are here.
47:10
Speaker 2: But the person with insight says, I'm living with shallow
47:12
Speaker 2: tent pegs.
47:14
Speaker 3: God says, move on. I'm ready to go.
47:17
Speaker 2: Look at what it says in 17. The entire assembly,
47:21
Speaker 2: I love that.
47:22
Speaker 3: No holdouts. No group that said, no, we don't want
47:27
Speaker 3: to do that. That looks funny, living in those little booths.
47:30
Speaker 2: The entire assembly who had returned from the captivity made
47:34
Speaker 2: booths and lived in them. Now look, the sons of
47:37
Speaker 2: Israel had not done so from the days of Joshua,
47:41
Speaker 2: the son of Nunn.
47:45
Speaker 3: Sanballat could say, what are you doing? We're living in booths.
47:48
Speaker 3: Ever seen it done before? Never in our lives. Doesn't
47:51
Speaker 3: that bother you? Uh-uh. Why not? Because God said it.
47:59
Speaker 3: Why must we have the approval of tradition? We are
48:04
Speaker 3: creatures of habit. And I might add, bad habits.
48:08
Speaker 2: And these bad habits develop our whole philosophy of life.
48:12
Speaker 2: And when God digs away in that habit, We think,
48:15
Speaker 2: he can't really be talking to me. One of the
48:19
Speaker 2: delightful goals of my last couple of weeks was the
48:22
Speaker 2: reading of James Dobson's book, Hide or Seek, a book
48:26
Speaker 2: on how to develop self-esteem, not only in your own self,
48:31
Speaker 2: but in your child.
48:33
Speaker 3: Excellent book.
48:35
Speaker 2: He says this, talk about bringing about a change. If
48:41
Speaker 2: I were to draw a caricature that would symbolize the
48:44
Speaker 2: millions of adults with low self-esteem, I would.
48:49
Speaker 3: Depict a bowed, weary traveler.
48:53
Speaker 2: Over his shoulder, I would place the end of a
48:56
Speaker 2: mile-long chain to which is attached tons of scrap iron,
49:04
Speaker 2: old tires, and garbage of all types. Each piece of
49:12
Speaker 2: junk is inscribed with the details of some humiliation, failure. embarrassment,
49:22
Speaker 2: or rejection from the past. He could let go.
49:27
Speaker 3: That's change.
49:29
Speaker 2: He could let go of the chain and free himself
49:32
Speaker 2: from the heavy load which immobilizes and exhausts him. But
49:38
Speaker 2: somehow he is convinced that it must be dragged throughout
49:42
Speaker 2: his life.
49:44
Speaker 3: Some of you are doing that. That long chain has.
49:49
Speaker 2: Attached to it all of those humiliating experiences, or in
49:53
Speaker 2: some cases, sin, failures.
49:57
Speaker 3: And you're dragging that on.
49:58
Speaker 2: So he plods onward, says Dobson, digging a furrow in
50:03
Speaker 2: the good earth as he goes. You can free yourself
50:08
Speaker 2: from the weight of the chain if you will but
50:11
Speaker 2: turn it loose.
50:16
Speaker 3: Those men said, God says build a booth, we'll build
50:20
Speaker 3: a booth. You know the third product? I love this.
50:28
Speaker 3: Great rejoicing. You picture seven people in a family inside
50:34
Speaker 3: a little booth. Man, that gets a little tight. But
50:40
Speaker 3: they were having great rejoicing. They were having fun.
50:45
Speaker 2: I can't explain how it happens. But when you do
50:50
Speaker 2: what is right, you're happy. When you do what is wrong,
50:56
Speaker 2: you may make millions, but you're miserable.
51:01
Speaker 3: Isn't that remarkable? How could a family live happily in
51:05
Speaker 3: a little shack? And I'll tell you, they did. The
51:14
Speaker 3: only way is because it was obedient to live there.
51:20
Speaker 2: How can you be happy in a mission field away
51:23
Speaker 2: from family, loved ones, friends, even the place of popularity
51:30
Speaker 2: or wherever you grew up, the home? in obscurity and loneliness,
51:36
Speaker 2: because that's obedience. Jesus said, if you know these things, happy.
51:42
Speaker 3: Are you if you memorize them? No. Happy are you
51:47
Speaker 3: if what? If you do them.
51:52
Speaker 2: We don't need more truth. We need obedience to the
51:57
Speaker 2: old truth. The psalmist begins, oh, the happiness is many
52:03
Speaker 2: times over of the man who walks not in the
52:06
Speaker 2: counsel of the ungodly or stands in the way of
52:09
Speaker 2: sinners or sits in the seat of the scornful. His
52:12
Speaker 2: delight is in the law of the Lord. He's the
52:15
Speaker 2: happy man whose life is like a tree planted by
52:19
Speaker 2: the rivers of water that bring forth its fruit in
52:21
Speaker 2: its season.
52:22
Speaker 3: His leaf will not wither and whatever he does will prosper. Happy.
52:30
Speaker 3: I could just picture in my mind's eye. My imagination.
52:34
Speaker 2: The laughter that came out of those little places. Just because.
52:40
Speaker 2: They had done the right thing.
52:44
Speaker 3: How was it preserved? Verse 18 says they read from
52:47
Speaker 3: the book of the law daily.
52:50
Speaker 2: That's individual intake. And they celebrated the end of the week.
52:55
Speaker 2: I like to liken that to our. our personal lives,
53:00
Speaker 2: and if it doesn't press it too far, to our
53:02
Speaker 2: daily times with the Lord, and then our gathering as
53:06
Speaker 2: an assembly, in a solemn assembly of.
53:09
Speaker 3: Worship, celebration.
53:13
Speaker 2: Maybe the reason church isn't more interesting to more people
53:18
Speaker 2: is because the experience of worship.
53:23
Speaker 3: Is so rare to them. But if you have.
53:29
Speaker 2: Worshiped through the week, if you have gained insight through
53:33
Speaker 2: the week, time as an assembly.
53:38
Speaker 3: Is exciting, thrilling. I look at young.
53:43
Speaker 2: Couples here today who have begun to make their homes.
53:46
Speaker 2: Some of you have been married two months, three months, five, six, ten,
53:50
Speaker 2: perhaps only a year or two. Where does the word
53:55
Speaker 2: of God fit into your homes? How's your time as
53:59
Speaker 2: husband and wife in the teachings of the book? How
54:05
Speaker 2: much motivation is given by you that are the husbands,
54:08
Speaker 2: the spiritual things in your home? How much insight flows
54:13
Speaker 2: from your lips when you sit together for your huddle
54:17
Speaker 2: three times a day or twice or maybe only once?
54:21
Speaker 2: How much encouragement comes as a result of what God
54:26
Speaker 2: has given you which you pass on to them. You see,
54:31
Speaker 2: what I'm really talking about is not just intellectual insight,
54:37
Speaker 2: but practical, earthy insight.
54:42
Speaker 1: I want to ask you a few very personal questions. One,
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Speaker 1: are you content with mere knowledge, or are you looking
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Speaker 1: for something more? Here's another. Do you honestly yearn for
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Speaker 1: true insight? And a third, if so, is your life
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Speaker 1: characterized by effort and change? And let me add joy.
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Speaker 1: Are you preserving your newfound insight with daily time in
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Speaker 1: God's Word and fellowship with other believers? Be honest now.
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Speaker 1: Insight is a precious gift from God. He intends for
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Speaker 1: us to deeply desire it and to earnestly search for wisdom.
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Speaker 1: The book of Proverbs is full of statements like that.
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Speaker 1: For example, if we seek it with all our hearts,
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Speaker 1: He has promised that we will find it. Words like
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Speaker 1: that appear in Proverbs 8, 17. All of this, of course,
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Speaker 1: begins with a personal desire relationship with Jesus Christ. Now,
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Speaker 1: those are words you may have heard before, but you
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Speaker 1: may not have acted on them. We don't come to
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Speaker 1: know God because we go to church. We don't have
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Speaker 1: a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ because we read
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Speaker 1: his words in the Bible. We come to a knowledge
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Speaker 1: of Christ by faith. The scripture tells us, by grace
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Speaker 1: you have been saved and through faith, and that not
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Speaker 1: of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works,
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Speaker 1: lest anyone should boast. As many as receive Christ, to
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Speaker 1: them God gives the authority to become the children of God,
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Speaker 1: even to those who believe in his name. So I
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Speaker 1: urge you now to believe in his name. to turn
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Speaker 1: from your life that you have been living and turn
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Speaker 1: to Christ. That's called repentance, to turn around in your mind,
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Speaker 1: to change direction, to trust Christ rather than yourself for
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Speaker 1: eternal life. And if you've done that, you have become
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Speaker 1: a child of God. Many of us today are children
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Speaker 1: of God, but don't have that insight we've been talking about.
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Speaker 1: So let me pray for both, you who have come
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Speaker 1: to Christ and you who have yet to make that decision.
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Speaker 3: Let's pray.
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Speaker 1: Lord, today I ask that you would give insight to
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Speaker 1: those who know you, to those.
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Speaker 3: Who believe your word.
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Speaker 1: I pray that you will move them from the realm
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Speaker 1: of mere knowledge to a grasp of putting that knowledge
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Speaker 1: into action, blending wisdom and with the truth that they're learning.
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Speaker 1: And Lord, I pray for those who've never trusted Christ,
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Speaker 1: your Son, as their own Savior. I pray that you
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Speaker 1: would make them restless and uneasy and that sense of
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Speaker 1: distance to continue between you and them until they finally
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Speaker 1: release their own will and turn to you through Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: I ask this in his name for his sake and glory.
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Speaker 4: Amen. The preceding message, The Fine Art of Insight, was
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Speaker 4: copyrighted in 1974, 1983, 1990, 2007, and 2016, and the
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Speaker 4: sound recording was copyrighted in 2016 by Charles R.
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Speaker 3: Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 4: commercial use is strictly prohibited.