Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Affirming the Afflicted, Part 3
Transcript
- 0:07Speaker 1: What do you do when life closes in, When the
- 0:10Speaker 1: pressure is relentless, the confusion is real, and the future
- 0:13Speaker 1: feels uncertain. The Christians in thessal and Iika knew that
- 0:17Speaker 1: feeling all too well, persecuted, afflicted, shaken to the core.
- 0:22Speaker 1: Yet the apostle Paul's response to their suffering might surprise
- 0:26Speaker 1: you Today. On Inside for Living, Chuck Wendaul describes a powerful,
- 0:30Speaker 1: often overlooked principle for walking alongside people in pain, one
- 0:35Speaker 1: that costs nothing, requires no special training, and yet can
- 0:39Speaker 1: change everything. So let's pick up our study in Second Thessalonians,
- 0:44Speaker 1: Chuck titled today's message Affirming the Afflicted.
- 0:54Speaker 2: Second Thessalonians is rich with significance. Notice in the first
- 0:59Speaker 2: chapter there is a tone of affirmation. These people are
- 1:03Speaker 2: trudging through the mud and the muck of affliction.
- 1:08Speaker 3: They're not only confused.
- 1:09Speaker 2: About their theology, they're disturbed about their physical safety.
- 1:14Speaker 3: And Paul affirms them.
- 1:16Speaker 2: It's a wonderful, wonderful chapter of affirmation, and he stirs
- 1:22Speaker 2: up their hearts with strong words of confidence.
- 1:27Speaker 3: And we're going to see that as we work our
- 1:29Speaker 3: way through.
- 1:29Speaker 2: In the second chapter, he turns to an explanation of
- 1:34Speaker 2: this misunderstanding. Look, for example, that's some clarifying remarks. He says,
- 1:39Speaker 2: the day of the Lord hasn't come first, there must
- 1:43Speaker 2: be Verse.
- 1:44Speaker 3: Three the apostasy, apostasy.
- 1:48Speaker 2: There's a whole system of apostate events that will occur
- 1:53Speaker 2: men and women, and that hasn't occurred.
- 1:57Speaker 3: Well, not yet, you have not missed anything. It has
- 2:00Speaker 3: not yet happened.
- 2:01Speaker 2: And continuing in verse three, the man of lawlessness is revealed,
- 2:06Speaker 2: the son of destruction. This is the man commonly called Antichrist.
- 2:12Speaker 2: Chapter one could be called persevering through affliction.
- 2:17Speaker 3: Chapter two could.
- 2:18Speaker 2: Be called trusting in the midst of confusion. Chapter three,
- 2:23Speaker 2: what a great ballot. Some of these people had gotten
- 2:26Speaker 2: so attached to the coming of the Lord teaching that
- 2:29Speaker 2: they stopped working. And Paul gives a direct piece of
- 2:33Speaker 2: advice to those people who went crazy with prophecy verse six.
- 2:39Speaker 2: Chapter three, We command you, brethren, in the name of
- 2:43Speaker 2: our Lord Jesus Christ. There it is again that you
- 2:46Speaker 2: keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life,
- 2:51Speaker 2: not according to the tradition which you receive from us.
- 2:54Speaker 2: Watch out for those those people. You yourselves know how
- 2:58Speaker 2: you ought to follow our example. Then he describes it
- 3:01Speaker 2: when Paul was among them. We didn't act in an
- 3:04Speaker 2: undisciplined manner among you. Neither did we eat anyone's bread
- 3:08Speaker 2: without paying for it. But with labor and hardship, we worked.
- 3:13Speaker 2: We kept working night and day, that we might not
- 3:16Speaker 2: be a burden to any of you. Not because we
- 3:18Speaker 2: didn't have the right to this. I was an apostle,
- 3:23Speaker 2: but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you,
- 3:26Speaker 2: that you might follow our example verse ten. If anyone
- 3:30Speaker 2: will not work, neither let him eat. Now all of
- 3:34Speaker 2: that is well and good. That's great theory, unless you're
- 3:38Speaker 2: up to your waste and alligators, which is where they were.
- 3:43Speaker 3: These people were walking through the fire. I mean a.
- 3:50Speaker 2: Virtual hell on earth had broken out in Thessalonaika.
- 3:54Speaker 3: You don't see it.
- 3:55Speaker 2: You don't find any blood or reference to such on
- 3:59Speaker 2: the pages of First or Second Thessalonians. But it's there.
- 4:04Speaker 2: Believe it's there. These people are really under the gun.
- 4:10Speaker 2: And so what do they need. Well, they don't need judgment,
- 4:16Speaker 2: they don't need criticism, they don't even need pity. They
- 4:20Speaker 2: need affirmation, A good principle to remember when you are
- 4:26Speaker 2: with people who are afflicted. Affirm there is one wonderful
- 4:33Speaker 2: response to people who are going through affliction, and that's affirmation.
- 4:38Speaker 3: That's what we find when we go back to chapter one.
- 4:43Speaker 2: It's a great way to begin a letter to people
- 4:47Speaker 2: who were a hurting, be confused, and see really uncertain
- 4:54Speaker 2: about tomorrow.
- 4:55Speaker 3: He affirms them. It works like magic.
- 5:00Speaker 2: Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians.
- 5:08Speaker 2: In God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What
- 5:11Speaker 2: a way to begin. He tells him right away of
- 5:14Speaker 2: the security that there is in God the Father and
- 5:17Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus Christ. Every once in a while, just
- 5:22Speaker 2: as an aside, every once in a while when you
- 5:24Speaker 2: write a letter, add a word of reassurance to the
- 5:27Speaker 2: person receiving the letter regarding his security in the Lord Jesus,
- 5:33Speaker 2: just a reminder. And then he tells him of the
- 5:36Speaker 2: two well pinions upon which that security rests, Grace verse
- 5:42Speaker 2: two and peace verse two, both from God the Father
- 5:48Speaker 2: and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 5:52Speaker 3: And then right out of the shoot.
- 5:55Speaker 2: He says, we ought always to give thanks to God
- 6:00Speaker 2: for you, brethren. I love that response. We ought always
- 6:07Speaker 2: to give thanks to God for you, brethren. Now this
- 6:10Speaker 2: ministry of affirmation. I don't say very much about it,
- 6:13Speaker 2: so I want to camp on it for a few moments.
- 6:16Speaker 3: Don't worry.
- 6:17Speaker 2: It never results in making the afflicted proud. Afflicted people
- 6:22Speaker 2: don't get proud. It doesn't cause arrogance or laziness. It
- 6:27Speaker 2: makes people want to do better and try harder. It
- 6:31Speaker 2: doesn't hurt their walk with Christ. It helps it. It
- 6:35Speaker 2: doesn't pull them down. It sets them up. They leave
- 6:38Speaker 2: remembering that better than they'll ever remember.
- 6:40Speaker 3: A sermon.
- 6:43Speaker 2: Paul says, it's only fitting that I do that. I mean,
- 6:45Speaker 2: it's not an option. Your life calls for it.
- 6:50Speaker 3: What was it?
- 6:51Speaker 2: Your faith is greatly enlarged see in verse three. This
- 6:55Speaker 2: is why you affirm them, why he gave thanks. Your
- 6:58Speaker 2: faith has been stretched, and it's growing, and the love
- 7:03Speaker 2: of each one of you, all toward one another, grows greater.
- 7:09Speaker 3: Here's the principle.
- 7:12Speaker 2: Divine perspective gives us the impetus.
- 7:16Speaker 3: To affirm others.
- 7:20Speaker 2: Had he looked at their situation only, he could have
- 7:22Speaker 2: only sighed and said.
- 7:24Speaker 3: I'm so sorry.
- 7:27Speaker 2: Had he visited them and seen the fresh grave of
- 7:31Speaker 2: a loved one, he would have wept said I pity you.
- 7:36Speaker 2: But through the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
- 7:41Speaker 2: never releases a test without purpose.
- 7:44Speaker 3: He saw.
- 7:46Speaker 2: Meaning in their faith being stretched. He saw purpose in
- 7:52Speaker 2: their love growing stronger.
- 7:54Speaker 3: You know what else?
- 7:55Speaker 2: It was an answer to prayer. Do you remember from
- 7:59Speaker 2: our study in First Thessalonians, chapter three, his prayer for them.
- 8:05Speaker 2: It came to my mind as I was working through
- 8:07Speaker 2: verse three. That's why he's affirming them. God is answering
- 8:11Speaker 2: his prayer. Three eleven. May our God and Father himself
- 8:15Speaker 2: and Jesus our Lord, direct our way to you, and
- 8:19Speaker 2: look verse twelve. May the Lord cause you to increase
- 8:23Speaker 2: and abound in love for one another and for all men,
- 8:27Speaker 2: just as.
- 8:28Speaker 3: We do for you. That was an answer to prayer.
- 8:31Speaker 3: Say what a practical word.
- 8:32Speaker 2: When's the last time you said to someone you are
- 8:35Speaker 2: going through the answer to my prayer. Your response to
- 8:40Speaker 2: this situation is exactly as I ask God to make
- 8:43Speaker 2: happen in your life. We don't know what that does
- 8:48Speaker 2: to other people when we tell them that we're quick
- 8:53Speaker 2: at giving prayer requests, we're not too good at reporting
- 8:55Speaker 2: prayer answers. Someone says, pray for me. Sure. Three weeks later, Hey,
- 9:03Speaker 2: thanks for praying. Yeah right, how good to come back
- 9:09Speaker 2: in a few days and say, how are we doing
- 9:12Speaker 2: in that particular thing I'm asking God for. He's excited
- 9:16Speaker 2: in verse three because their faith is enlarged and their
- 9:19Speaker 2: love is growing, just as he prayed.
- 9:23Speaker 3: You see the divine perspective.
- 9:24Speaker 2: He raises all reason to blame illustration Joseph his brother
- 9:31Speaker 2: sold him into slavery, Potiphar's wife accused him of rape.
- 9:38Speaker 2: Potiphar believed her threw him in prison. Here he is
- 9:42Speaker 2: away from home, forgotten by his father, believed to be
- 9:45Speaker 2: dead in an Egyptian prison, doesn't know the language, just
- 9:52Speaker 2: beginning to get underway and putting himself back on his feet.
- 9:56Speaker 2: He's forgotten in prison by the man who said I
- 9:58Speaker 2: won't forget you as he helped him out. And then
- 10:01Speaker 2: the process of time, he was picked up with the
- 10:04Speaker 2: lord and promoted to the prime minister, and now he
- 10:07Speaker 2: had the brothers where he wanted him. He could have
- 10:10Speaker 2: just been waiting, bring those guys to me, and sure
- 10:15Speaker 2: enough they came one day, then knocked on his door
- 10:16Speaker 2: saying could we have a little bit to eat? Sure no,
- 10:21Speaker 2: he didn't say that. He said, you bet. In fact,
- 10:26Speaker 2: bring my dad, because I'm Joseph and They were shaking
- 10:32Speaker 2: in their sandals, wondering what he was going to do,
- 10:35Speaker 2: and he said, don't worry. You meant it unto me
- 10:39Speaker 2: for evil. God meant it unto me for good. Don't
- 10:45Speaker 2: ever forget that, friends. The better you learn that statement,
- 10:49Speaker 2: the more affirming you will be of others. You meant
- 10:52Speaker 2: it unto me for evil, but God meant it unto
- 10:55Speaker 2: me for good. He didn't deny the reality of it.
- 10:57Speaker 2: Sure they had evil at heart, but over it all
- 11:01Speaker 2: was the Living God who said, I'll let this pass
- 11:04Speaker 2: through my fingers as I wrap myself around my child Joseph,
- 11:09Speaker 2: and I'll let him go through this misunderstanding.
- 11:13Speaker 3: I'll work my purpose out in his life. When you see.
- 11:18Speaker 2: God's purpose being worked out in someone else's life, you
- 11:20Speaker 2: affirm them and say, I give thanks to God for you.
- 11:25Speaker 2: In fact verse four, he adds, therefore, we ourselves speak
- 11:32Speaker 2: proudly of you, and it means just what it says.
- 11:36Speaker 2: Some translations render it boast of you. Why for your
- 11:43Speaker 2: perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions
- 11:49Speaker 2: and afflictions.
- 11:50Speaker 3: Which you endure. Link the word perseverance.
- 11:56Speaker 2: With afflictions and faith with persecutions. I'll show you why
- 12:05Speaker 2: this interesting word perseverance is the familiar hoopoe men, oh
- 12:11Speaker 2: to abide under. Remember we've described that as an old
- 12:15Speaker 2: beast of burden, like you see down in Mexico, where
- 12:19Speaker 2: they load this burrow with more and more stuff until
- 12:23Speaker 2: you think they've got to build a platform to put
- 12:26Speaker 2: more on. This old creature just stands there. I don't
- 12:29Speaker 2: think I've ever seen one fall. I've seen the load
- 12:32Speaker 2: so heavy it just shifts as a little creature walks,
- 12:36Speaker 2: but it abides under.
- 12:40Speaker 3: That's this word persevere.
- 12:44Speaker 2: Persevere what afflictions they persevere because of the trouble that
- 12:49Speaker 2: comes bringing pressure. The word afflictions in this case always
- 12:55Speaker 2: suggests pressure, the idea of something pressing upon you. Earl
- 13:01Speaker 2: Palmer has a wise insightful comment about this particular event
- 13:06Speaker 2: in the Thessalonian history.
- 13:08Speaker 3: The capital cities.
- 13:09Speaker 2: Within the Roman Empire were the hardest places for Christians
- 13:12Speaker 2: to survive because of the fanatical intensity of emperor worship
- 13:18Speaker 2: at those centers. Also, the young Church at Thessalonika was
- 13:23Speaker 2: under considerable pressure.
- 13:26Speaker 3: From the members of the synagogue who were opposed to
- 13:30Speaker 3: the growing Christian fellowship. Paul had been there. He remembered.
- 13:36Speaker 2: You people are holding up under the pressure from the
- 13:39Speaker 2: synagogue and the religious crowd and the affliction from Rome,
- 13:45Speaker 2: and I'm proud of you. This, by the way, brings
- 13:50Speaker 2: up a second principle that you got to remember. Depth
- 13:53Speaker 2: perception gives us the insight.
- 13:58Speaker 3: To affirm others.
- 14:00Speaker 2: Divine perspective gives us the motivation, the impetus, but depth
- 14:05Speaker 2: perception gives us the the insight to affirm.
- 14:12Speaker 1: You.
- 14:12Speaker 3: See what I'm saying.
- 14:14Speaker 2: He affirms them because of their faith verse three, their
- 14:17Speaker 2: love verse three, their perseverance verse four, their faith verse four.
- 14:23Speaker 3: These are inside jobs.
- 14:27Speaker 2: When you affirm other people, you affirm them because of
- 14:30Speaker 2: character traits forming within them, And you tell himself listen
- 14:36Speaker 2: to a few random remarks about affirmation. Affirmation makes it
- 14:41Speaker 2: easier for us to believe in God, and to believe
- 14:44Speaker 2: in others, and to believe in ourselves as people with dignity.
- 14:49Speaker 2: The lack of affirmation invites our suspicious nature to believe
- 14:54Speaker 2: that our darkest thoughts about God, ourselves, and others are true.
- 15:01Speaker 2: Before I go on, I want to assure you there
- 15:03Speaker 2: isn't a person hearing me at this moment who doesn't
- 15:05Speaker 2: have dark thoughts about himself and the lack of affirmation. Says,
- 15:11Speaker 2: your dark thoughts are right.
- 15:16Speaker 3: It's tragic what that does to us.
- 15:20Speaker 2: Another man writes, our task as Christians is to live
- 15:23Speaker 2: out a style of life that will allow people to
- 15:26Speaker 2: discover their worth, their strengths, and their uniqueness, and to
- 15:31Speaker 2: communicate how much God intends to do with them and
- 15:34Speaker 2: for them. Isn't that a great way to live? You
- 15:39Speaker 2: work with young people. They need affirmation. They're surrounded by pressures,
- 15:47Speaker 2: They're surrounded by temptations and put downs and sarcasm. The
- 15:52Speaker 2: last person on earth they believe in is themselves. Victor
- 15:58Speaker 2: Hugo said, man lives more by affirmation than by bread,
- 16:03Speaker 2: and the crowning point of all of it. Verse eleven,
- 16:07Speaker 2: we jump because of the thought. We'll come back to
- 16:10Speaker 2: five through ten next time. We pray for you always
- 16:16Speaker 2: that our God may count you worthy of our calling
- 16:19Speaker 2: and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work.
- 16:22Speaker 3: Of faith with power.
- 16:23Speaker 2: We pray for you. You know who you pray for in
- 16:26Speaker 2: this scene of affirmation. You pray for those you're proud of.
- 16:31Speaker 2: I want you to know that this church is the
- 16:33Speaker 2: most enviable place I know of in the world. It
- 16:37Speaker 2: is the most enviable pulpit I can imagine. I've never
- 16:42Speaker 2: seen one that can compare to it. We are surrounded
- 16:46Speaker 2: by a body of people who who flex in worship,
- 16:52Speaker 2: who flex in parking, who flex and seating.
- 16:58Speaker 3: It's one of the few places you come in on
- 17:00Speaker 3: someone's lap for worship.
- 17:02Speaker 2: You are willing to shift and change and try new ideas.
- 17:07Speaker 2: You are willing to build the Body of Christ and
- 17:11Speaker 2: to make it a thing to be delightful and attractive
- 17:16Speaker 2: and contagious. I am surrounded by a few people whose
- 17:21Speaker 2: children have now grown and married and left their mates
- 17:26Speaker 2: and remarried someone else out of the will of God.
- 17:29Speaker 3: And those parents still stay true to God, and I'm
- 17:34Speaker 3: proud of you.
- 17:36Speaker 2: There are people in this assembly who had their mates
- 17:39Speaker 2: walk away from them without biblical justification. You didn't want it,
- 17:43Speaker 2: you strove against it, and it's happened. You find yourself
- 17:47Speaker 2: a victim, living with a stigma of a divorcee against
- 17:55Speaker 2: your wishes. But you still have the self confidence to
- 17:59Speaker 2: come and to find your place and to worship. And
- 18:02Speaker 2: I'm proud of you. Some of you live with incredible
- 18:07Speaker 2: physical difficulties, and when I think about them, I can
- 18:10Speaker 2: hardly finish my sentence. I've choked up when I know
- 18:14Speaker 2: of the pressures that some of you are living with,
- 18:16Speaker 2: and I want you to know I'm proud.
- 18:18Speaker 3: To be associated with you.
- 18:20Speaker 2: Some of you operate your businesses and your practices above
- 18:24Speaker 2: the level of the world. You are marked by integrity
- 18:28Speaker 2: and thoughtfulness and courtesy, credibility, and I affirm you, I'm
- 18:33Speaker 2: proud to be associated with you. I think at times
- 18:39Speaker 2: churches leave like whip dogs with their tails between their legs,
- 18:43Speaker 2: yiping getting out of the way of some whip from
- 18:47Speaker 2: the pulpit. God bless you. I have no whip. I
- 18:53Speaker 2: have affirmation. I give thanks to God for you. I
- 18:58Speaker 2: speak proudly of you. I pray for you. This is
- 19:02Speaker 2: a good word for teenagers. Parents here I go working
- 19:10Speaker 2: their fingers to a bone. I mean meals and travel and.
- 19:15Speaker 3: Money and work.
- 19:16Speaker 2: And how many teenagers stop to say, hey, mom, you're great.
- 19:23Speaker 1: Now.
- 19:23Speaker 2: I have the glycerin tablets ready when they come with
- 19:25Speaker 2: those kind of comments, because it's going to shake you
- 19:28Speaker 2: up when you hear those. But listen to this, kids,
- 19:32Speaker 2: how about the parents with their kids. You know what
- 19:35Speaker 2: I brag about this church far more when i'm away
- 19:38Speaker 2: from it than when I'm with you. That's the way
- 19:40Speaker 2: we are, isn't it. And maybe that's what our kids do.
- 19:45Speaker 2: Never thought about that. Maybe when they're at school they
- 19:47Speaker 2: just spend all their days talking about how great their parents.
- 19:51Speaker 2: Come back to reality. Here I got six words. I
- 19:55Speaker 2: started with six words, and I closed with six words.
- 19:59Speaker 2: Here they are. Look around, reach out, speak up. That's
- 20:05Speaker 2: what this is saying to us.
- 20:07Speaker 3: Look around.
- 20:09Speaker 2: Great old preacher Joseph Parker used to say to young
- 20:12Speaker 2: ministers in the making, You'll never lack for a congregation
- 20:16Speaker 2: if you speak to people who hurt. Speak to broken hearts.
- 20:19Speaker 2: There's one in every pew. There are several in every pew.
- 20:25Speaker 2: You look up and down the pew where you sit
- 20:27Speaker 2: and worship Sunday after Sunday, you're going to see broken
- 20:30Speaker 2: hearts covered over by very attractive faces, smiles breaking through
- 20:35Speaker 2: as worship begins to affirm them. Look around, that's giving thanks.
- 20:45Speaker 2: Reach out, that's saying I'm proud of you, and speak up.
- 20:53Speaker 2: Not only tell the father in prayer, but tell them
- 20:57Speaker 2: how much they mean.
- 21:00Speaker 3: You and the family.
- 21:01Speaker 2: You know what, People often don't want an answer. They
- 21:06Speaker 2: simply want a triumphant, encouraging word from your presence. I
- 21:18Speaker 2: was putting the finishing touches on this talk, and when
- 21:21Speaker 2: I did, I came across a great brief story about
- 21:26Speaker 2: a troubled young man who once sought an interview with
- 21:30Speaker 2: the great Phillips Brooks, the famed American preacher. When the
- 21:35Speaker 2: long awaited day arrived, he got his question just where
- 21:41Speaker 2: he wanted it before he walked into the pastor's study.
- 21:44Speaker 3: And he walked in. An hour later he came out
- 21:49Speaker 3: just transfigured. He was filled with joy.
- 21:53Speaker 2: It was almost as if there was an aura around
- 21:55Speaker 2: him as he was relieved and encouraged to go on.
- 21:58Speaker 2: And it wasn't ntil about an hour or two later
- 22:00Speaker 2: he thought, I never did ask my question, And when
- 22:04Speaker 2: telling someone about it, he said, I did not care.
- 22:09Speaker 2: What I needed was not the solution to a specific problem,
- 22:14Speaker 2: but the contagion of a triumphant spirit. That is what
- 22:20Speaker 2: worship is about. That is why corporate worship is essential.
- 22:27Speaker 2: It sweeps a contagion's over us. That's a triumphant spirit.
- 22:34Speaker 2: It says we come into his presence singing Allelujah. It
- 22:38Speaker 2: says we are one in the bond of love. It
- 22:42Speaker 2: says he knows what he's about, says you can go on.
- 22:46Speaker 2: You can make it through the rest of the day,
- 22:48Speaker 2: you can even make it for a week in the
- 22:50Speaker 2: strength of that affirmation.
- 22:54Speaker 3: That's why I love it here. I'll tell you.
- 22:58Speaker 2: They even pay me to do it. Don't tell anybody
- 23:03Speaker 2: it's wonderful. They're just one part of this story that
- 23:08Speaker 2: has got to be put into.
- 23:09Speaker 3: The right place. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Right.
- 23:15Speaker 3: You thought I forgot him, didn't you. I'm going to
- 23:19Speaker 3: talk to him and to you while your head's are
- 23:23Speaker 3: about let's bow together.
- 23:26Speaker 2: Your worship is incomplete if all you've done is sing
- 23:29Speaker 2: a song and read through a book of the Bible,
- 23:34Speaker 2: hear children sing, and walk out with a little melody
- 23:38Speaker 2: on your heart. Now there has to be Christ in
- 23:42Speaker 2: your life. There's never ever been a time in your
- 23:46Speaker 2: life when you've said, you know, Lord, I'm a stranger
- 23:52Speaker 2: to you and I want to be a friend. I
- 23:55Speaker 2: know Christ died from me and I'm a sinner. I'm lost,
- 24:03Speaker 2: and I want to come to him because he lives
- 24:07Speaker 2: for me.
- 24:09Speaker 3: I want to be forgiven. There's never been a time
- 24:12Speaker 3: you've done that. Do that now, right now, Thank you? Father,
- 24:20Speaker 3: for your presence.
- 24:22Speaker 2: We have come into it singing, and it goes with
- 24:27Speaker 2: us every where.
- 24:30Speaker 3: We go because of Jesus Christ and whose name we
- 24:36Speaker 3: thank you.
- 24:38Speaker 1: Amen. With Chucks Wendall's prayer, we conclude the first of
- 24:52Speaker 1: eight messages in our study through Second Thessalonians. The series
- 24:57Speaker 1: is called Steadfast Christianity. If you'd like to listen to
- 25:01Speaker 1: Chuck's complete sermons on your phone, just download the convenient
- 25:04Speaker 1: Insight mobile app here at Insight for Living. It's our
- 25:08Speaker 1: custom to offer audio recordings of all of Chuck's sermons,
- 25:11Speaker 1: and the eight audio files for Steadfast Christianity are available
- 25:15Speaker 1: in a complete set. To order the audio messages today,
- 25:19Speaker 1: call eight hundred seven seven to two eighty eight eighty
- 25:22Speaker 1: eight or visit Insight dot org. Slash offer as a
- 25:27Speaker 1: companion resource to our study in Second Thessalonians, we're offering
- 25:31Speaker 1: a classic book from Chuck that deals with a common theme,
- 25:34Speaker 1: and that theme is leadership. If you think about it,
- 25:38Speaker 1: no matter the capacity, everyone is a leader to someone,
- 25:41Speaker 1: whether it's your congregation, your staff at work, or your
- 25:45Speaker 1: little ones at home. So this book about Namiyah applies
- 25:49Speaker 1: to everyone. Maybe you're carrying a heavy load right now.
- 25:52Speaker 1: The work is hard, the critics are loud, and some
- 25:55Speaker 1: days you wonder if it's worth it. Namyah felt the
- 25:58Speaker 1: same way, but he kept saying, hand me another brick,
- 26:02Speaker 1: and the wall around Jerusalem went up. Chuck's book by
- 26:05Speaker 1: that same name will remind you why the work matters,
- 26:08Speaker 1: how to lead through opposition, and where to find the
- 26:11Speaker 1: strength to finish what God called you to build. We'll
- 26:15Speaker 1: send you a copy of Handing Another Brick when you
- 26:17Speaker 1: make a generous gift to Inside for Living. Our address
- 26:21Speaker 1: is Insight for Living, post Office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas,
- 26:27Speaker 1: seven five three four. Your gift makes a huge impact.
- 26:31Speaker 1: Whatever amount you choose to send will be channeled toward
- 26:34Speaker 1: reaching more people folks just like you with Chuck's Bible teaching.
- 26:39Speaker 1: When they hear these programs, others learn to walk with
- 26:41Speaker 1: God just as you have. Our address again is post
- 26:45Speaker 1: Office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five o three four.
- 26:51Speaker 1: You can also call eight hundred seven seven to two
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- 27:08Speaker 3: Why does God.
- 27:08Speaker 1: Often remain silent in our suffering? I'm Bill Meyer join
- 27:12Speaker 1: us when Chuckswyndall provides a Biblical answer Friday on Insight
- 27:17Speaker 1: for Living. The preceding message affirming the Afflicted was copyrighted
- 27:24Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty six, nineteen ninety one, two thousand and two,
- 27:28Speaker 1: and twenty twenty four, and the sound recording was copyrighted
- 27:31Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four by Charles Rswindahl, Incorporated. All rights
- 27:35Speaker 1: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
- 27:40Speaker 1: is strictly prohibited