Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – The Glory of God, Part 2

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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – The Glory of God, Part 2 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Power is a dangerous thing.
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  Speaker 2: History is littered with men and women who started well, gifted, humble,
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  Speaker 2: and blessed by God, and somewhere along the way, began
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  Speaker 2: to believe their own press. Today, on Insight for Living
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Chuckswyndall returns to one of the Old Testament's most sobering biographies.
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  Speaker 2: It's part of his series called How Great Is Our God?
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  Speaker 2: In this message, we'll see a king who had everything
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  Speaker 2: and lost it all in a single moment of breathtaking pride.
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  Speaker 2: His story is a mirror, and what it reflects may
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  Speaker 2: surprise you.
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  Speaker 3: Glorious worshipful admiration, highest praise, splendor, radiant beauty, magnificence, circle
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  Speaker 3: of light. How important it is that we remember that
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  Speaker 3: that marks our God and no other to him, belongs
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  Speaker 3: to glory. To him, goes all the credit to him.
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  Speaker 3: We give our applause to him, We stand in awe
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  Speaker 3: before him. How easy to mix up the special delight
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  Speaker 3: of being chosen by God and then feeling a sort
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  Speaker 3: of a heightened sense of pride, almost a smugness, that
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  Speaker 3: I am among the elect and you're not, And therein
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  Speaker 3: lies so many of our struggles. Osgins hits at this
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  Speaker 3: in his wonderful book, The Call. I say it's wonderful
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  Speaker 3: because it is my favorite of Osgens's books. It's the
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  Speaker 3: only one I understand, so it's my favorite. And in
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  Speaker 3: it he writes this, Yes, that is worth hearing. Listen closely.
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  Speaker 3: The reverse side of calling is the temptation of conceit.
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  Speaker 3: All truth in a fallen world is vulnerable to distortion.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, each truth has its own foreseeable distortions that
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  Speaker 3: are its shadow side. Like the way he puts that
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  Speaker 3: each truth has a shadow side, He continues, the closeness
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  Speaker 3: between calling and conceit is easy to see. After all.
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  Speaker 3: To be called is to hear God whisper three things
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  Speaker 3: to you in one hundred different intimate ways.
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  Speaker 4: You are chosen, you are gifted, you are special.
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  Speaker 3: Let those three things sink in for longer than the
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  Speaker 3: first precious moments, and you will inevitably hear another voice,
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  Speaker 3: honeyed and smooth.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, you really are chosen, gifted, special, All.
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  Speaker 3: Too soon, if you are anything like most of us,
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  Speaker 3: you will find yourself saying, in response to the devil's
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  Speaker 3: echo of God to yourself, of course, never out loud,
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  Speaker 3: I'm chosen, I'm gifted.
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  Speaker 4: I really must be special, and.
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  Speaker 3: Before you know it, the wonder of calling has grown
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  Speaker 3: into the horror of conceit. I know nothing more than
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  Speaker 3: to challenge all of us with a reminder that being
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  Speaker 3: chosen is an act of grace, not a cause for conceit.
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  Speaker 3: To be a part of a ministry that has grown
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  Speaker 3: like this is an act of grace envied by many
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  Speaker 3: and unfortunately sought by some. Easy to feel a little,
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  Speaker 3: a little smug towards the rest of humanity, who aren't chosen,
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  Speaker 3: and who aren't gifted, who aren't special. Let's never go there,
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  Speaker 3: Let's never let that happen. That's what I was thinking
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  Speaker 3: about when God led me to the life of a
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  Speaker 3: king whose biography appears in Second Chronicles, chapter twenty six.
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  Speaker 3: What a study in contrast. He's not the only one,
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  Speaker 3: but he is among the most eloquent examples of a
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  Speaker 3: king everyone admired and then experienced a moment when everything
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  Speaker 3: changed and ultimately became a man nobody respected. His name
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  Speaker 3: is Usiah. I don't know about you, but I smiled
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  Speaker 3: when I returned to the story and found that verse
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  Speaker 3: three of Second Chronicles twenty six. He was sixteen years
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  Speaker 3: old when he became king. Remember when your son was sixteen,
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  Speaker 3: aren't you glad? He wasn't appointed king of anything. Weren't
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  Speaker 3: you glad?
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  Speaker 5: You weren't Yusiah sixteen and for fifty two years until
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  Speaker 5: he turned sixty eight.
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  Speaker 3: He is the king of the land. And what a
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  Speaker 3: man he was. He was a fixed star upon which
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  Speaker 3: many people navigated their lives. I mean, look at his story.
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  Speaker 3: He did right in the sight of the Lord verse four.
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  Speaker 3: You can't beat that. He continued to seek God in
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  Speaker 3: the days of the great prophet Zechariah, as he should
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  Speaker 3: have done. As long as he sought the Lord, God
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  Speaker 3: prospered him. So wealth came his way, and prestige and prominence,
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  Speaker 3: fame surrounded the throne of Usiah. Don't stop there. He
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  Speaker 3: went out and warred against the Philistines, and he whip them,
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  Speaker 3: the ancient enemies of the Jews. And if that wasn't
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  Speaker 3: enough verse seven, God helped him against the Philistines and
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  Speaker 3: against the Arabians who lived in Garbal and the Millionites,
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  Speaker 3: the Ammonites, and his fame extended to the border of Egypt.
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  Speaker 3: We're talking famous. His name was a household word among
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  Speaker 3: the people of the land, and he became very strong.
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  Speaker 3: You love Yusaiah because of his inventive creative ability even
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  Speaker 3: applied to battle and warfare. Look at verse nine. He
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  Speaker 3: built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, in the
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  Speaker 3: valley gate, and he put corner buttresses there and fortified them.
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  Speaker 3: He built powers in the wilderness and hewed many cisterns before.
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  Speaker 3: He had much livestock, both in the lowland and the plain.
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  Speaker 3: He had plowmen and vine dressers in the hill country,
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  Speaker 3: the fertile fields.
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  Speaker 1: He loved the soil.
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  Speaker 4: I don't like guys like that.
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  Speaker 3: He's just a farmer at heart. He'd like to get
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  Speaker 3: his hands dirty, just one of us. You'd see him
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  Speaker 3: at times with a livestock and looking over the fields.
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  Speaker 3: What a guy. He protected us as a nation, and
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  Speaker 3: enemies coward before him, and armies moved with his thumbs
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  Speaker 3: up and heads rolled with his thumbs down. This man
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  Speaker 3: is powerful, creative, and inventive. He continues to lead the
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  Speaker 3: army of over three hundred and seven thousand men verse thirteen,
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  Speaker 3: and could wage war with great power, and all of
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  Speaker 3: them helped the king. In Verse fifteen concludes, his fame
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  Speaker 3: spread afar. He was marvelously helped until he became strong.
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  Speaker 3: Every once in a while it is appropriate that you
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  Speaker 3: pause and let the truth in. Mark that in your Bible.
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  Speaker 3: Until something snapped, we're not told what it was. I've
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  Speaker 3: had more than one this morning, and the services before
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  Speaker 3: this one asked me what was it? We're not told.
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  Speaker 3: It's hard to track the cause of carnality one of
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  Speaker 3: a dozen reasons. Something inside his head. Little by little,
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  Speaker 3: the erosion took its toll. He turned more of a
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  Speaker 3: deaf ear to those who would tell him the truth.
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  Speaker 3: Little by little, he became his own man, consumed with
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  Speaker 3: his own clippings. Yusaiah goes too far, however, in his
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  Speaker 3: carnality we read of it in verse sixteen. When he
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  Speaker 3: became strong, his heart was so proud, he acted corruptly,
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  Speaker 3: and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God. For
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  Speaker 3: he entered the temple of the Lord waia whoa whoa
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  Speaker 3: woa whoa whoa whoa. Stop. Priests enter temples, not king.
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  Speaker 3: Priests have the right, being sons of Aaron, but not
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  Speaker 3: kings except Usiah. I'll go where I want to go,
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  Speaker 3: I'll do what I wish to do. This is all
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  Speaker 3: about me, And so he went into this place of
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  Speaker 3: the altar and Azariah verse seventeen. The priest, who had
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  Speaker 3: the right to be in there, entered after him, and
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  Speaker 3: in case you wonder if he needed help, he brought
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  Speaker 3: with him eighty valiant men. They opposed Usiah. Look at that,
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  Speaker 3: eighty one priests opposed one man. You've heard of road rage.
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  Speaker 3: You're going to read temple rage right here. How dare
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  Speaker 3: you stand against me? May every stronghearted pastor read these
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  Speaker 3: words again and let the chill run up your back.
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  Speaker 3: May every ill motive potential leader take heart, take notice.
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  Speaker 3: Take notice. Usiah took the glory that belonged to God
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  Speaker 3: and personified it. They opposed Usiah the king and said
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  Speaker 3: to him, it is not for you, Usiah, to burn
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  Speaker 3: incense to the Lord. For the priests, the son of aarons.
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  Speaker 3: It's for us who have been consecrated to burn incense.
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  Speaker 3: Get out of the sanctuary. You realize the guts it
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  Speaker 3: took to tell Usiah that get out. This is a
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  Speaker 3: man who commands three hundred and seven thousand in his army.
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  Speaker 3: This is a man who has wealth that is not
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  Speaker 3: even described. Get out. You've gone too far. You have
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  Speaker 3: been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God.
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  Speaker 3: But Yusiah, look at this talk about stubborn with a
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  Speaker 3: censer in his hand for burning incense was and raised,
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  Speaker 3: means exactly what it says, how dare you stand in
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  Speaker 3: my way? What Usiah didn't realize is that he wasn't
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  Speaker 3: calling his own shots. But the very breath in his
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  Speaker 3: lungs came from the Lord, God of Heaven, and his
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  Speaker 3: skin suddenly became splotched with leprosy. He didn't know it
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  Speaker 3: at the moment, because he came on his forehead and
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  Speaker 3: they saw it. The leprosy broke out on his forehead
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  Speaker 3: before the priest is in the house of the Lord,
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  Speaker 3: beside the altar of incense. Notice how the chronicler describes it.
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  Speaker 3: He is in the house of the Lord. He is
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  Speaker 3: beside the altar of incense, where he had no business
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  Speaker 3: being as Ariah. The chief priests and all the priest
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  Speaker 3: looked at him, and behold, he was leverrous, the dread
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  Speaker 3: disease among Jews, the leverus. And they hurried him out
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  Speaker 3: of there, and he himself hastened to get out because
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  Speaker 3: the Lord had slitten him. Of course, remember Isaiah's words
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  Speaker 3: I am the Lord to another, I will not give
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  Speaker 3: my glory. May every pastor ultimately hearing this message, remember this,
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  Speaker 3: May every elder, and ultimately on the elders of the future.
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  Speaker 3: Remember this. May every leader of this congregation now and later.
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  Speaker 3: Remember this. We will be smitten when it turns and
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  Speaker 3: becomes a story about us. When any one of us
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  Speaker 3: seeks the glory the credit that which belongs only to
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  Speaker 3: our awesome God, expect consequences. They are coming. And that's
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  Speaker 3: exactly what happens to Usiah. And of all things, his
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  Speaker 3: epitaph reads, sadly, he was a leper, and he was
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  Speaker 3: a leper to the day of his death. I'm so
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  Speaker 3: grateful the Lord preserve the story. There are other stories.
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  Speaker 3: Late and Ford, in his book written in nineteen ninety one,
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  Speaker 3: titled Transforming Leadership, describes an experience he had that's worth
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  Speaker 3: mentioning and I quote. Several years ago, Ford writes, I
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  Speaker 3: had lunch with Richard Dortsch, who had just been chosen
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  Speaker 3: to become the executive vice president of the PTL Club,
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  Speaker 3: a multimillion dollar religious televangelism network. Georch had headed his
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  Speaker 3: denomination's work in Illinois and had an outstanding track record.
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  Speaker 3: I was frankly very impressed with what he had to
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  Speaker 3: say and with his seeming sincerity and competence. He planned
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  Speaker 3: to recruit a strong finance director and several MBAs to
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  Speaker 3: establish some fiscal sanity. It's going to be like turning
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  Speaker 3: the Queen Mary around with a teaspoon, he said. It
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  Speaker 3: won't be easy, but I plan to do it. I
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  Speaker 3: wished him well and watched him from a distance. Eventually,
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  Speaker 3: Jim Baker, the head of PTL, resigned in disgrace over
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  Speaker 3: a sexual liaison and its cover up. Both he and
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  Speaker 3: George were convicted for the misuse of funds. How I wondered,
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  Speaker 3: could a man with such seemingly good intentions go so wrong?
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  Speaker 3: So I read with interest a later interview in which
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  Speaker 3: he described how the managers of PTL came to define success.
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  Speaker 3: Please don't miss a word that follows I quote in
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  Speaker 3: the interview. They said, it is all tied to how
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  Speaker 3: many stations we have on our network or how big
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  Speaker 3: our building is. It is so easy to lose control,
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  Speaker 3: to compromise without recognizing it. At PTL, there was not
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  Speaker 3: time taken for prayer or family because the show had
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  Speaker 3: to go on. We were so caught up in God's
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  Speaker 3: work that we forgot about God. He also talked about
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  Speaker 3: the impact of television on preachers, and I quote again,
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  Speaker 3: a television camera can change a preacher quicker than anything else.
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  Speaker 3: Those who sit on the sidelines can notice the changes
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  Speaker 3: in people once they get in front of a camera.
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  Speaker 3: It turns a good man into a potent. It is
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  Speaker 3: so easy to get swept away by popularity. Everybody loves you,
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  Speaker 3: cars are waiting for you, and you go to the
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  Speaker 3: head of the line. That is the devastation of the camera.
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  Speaker 3: It has made us less than what God has wanted
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  Speaker 3: us to become. In Ptl's case, the TV camera, the show,
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  Speaker 3: even the ministry itself had become ends in themselves. They
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  Speaker 3: were powers which could have been creative, but which in
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  Speaker 3: the end actually became destructive for those of us not
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  Speaker 3: in the public eye. It is easy to point the
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  Speaker 3: finger at the Jim Joneses and the Jim Baker's, but
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  Speaker 3: power can be just as seductive to the teacher in
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  Speaker 3: a classroom, the physician in an examining room, the boss
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  Speaker 3: and a union meeting, or the leader of an average church.
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  Speaker 3: Called me extreme if you wish, but that's part of
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  Speaker 3: the reason there will not be a television broadcast of
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  Speaker 3: our worship. We are not here for others in our worship.
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  Speaker 3: We are here for our God and as the body
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  Speaker 3: to grow and learn together, and then through the week
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  Speaker 3: we get the message out. We're not putting on a show.
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  Speaker 3: We're expressing our praise and worship to God. Now, now,
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  Speaker 3: there are effective ministries. I understand that, so please don't
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  Speaker 3: write me. I know there are, but they are the exception, tragically,
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  Speaker 3: rather than the rule. I don't need the temptation of
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  Speaker 3: fawning before a camera with a face like this, Are
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  Speaker 3: you kidding? As many have told me, I have a
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  Speaker 3: face for radio, and indeed I do so, so it
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  Speaker 3: seemed appropriate. Before we're through that, As your shepherd and
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  Speaker 3: friend and and fellow sheep, I offer these five warnings
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  Speaker 3: to all of us things to beware. Please take out
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  Speaker 3: a pin, please look at the outline, Please write them down,
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  Speaker 3: Please put them in your Bible, and please never forget them.
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  Speaker 3: They all come from the life of Usiah, and because
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  Speaker 3: the truths are transcendent, they apply to today just as
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  Speaker 3: they did in his era. How do we know when
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  Speaker 3: things are going in the wrong direction? When do we beware?
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  Speaker 3: First to five, Beware, when greater battles are fought within
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  Speaker 3: than without, you're heading for trouble. Battles behind the scenes,
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  Speaker 3: battles for power, battles based on pride, defensiveness, polishing an image,
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  Speaker 3: promoting an individual, fighting for authority, grabbing for the money
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  Speaker 3: are a bigger section of the budget. When greater battles
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  Speaker 3: are fought within than without, a ministry is headed for trouble. Second,
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  Speaker 3: when more attention falls on one who is building his
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  Speaker 3: or her own kingdom instead of the lords, you're heading
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  Speaker 3: for trouble. When more attention falls on anyone who is
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  Speaker 3: interested in building his or her own kingdom, you're in
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  Speaker 3: for trouble. As in the case of Yosiah, it soon
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  Speaker 3: became all about him. Third, when the Lord's help is
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  Speaker 3: no longer considered essential, beware when you can do worship
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  Speaker 3: services in a sort of perfunctory manner. We've done these
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  Speaker 3: before for ten, twelve, fifteen years. Yeah, we can crank
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  Speaker 3: another one out. When you can do what you do
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  Speaker 3: without prayer, without dependence, without a deep sense of reliance,
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  Speaker 3: understanding that the very breath in your lungs comes from
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  Speaker 3: one who has created you. You're in trouble when you
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  Speaker 3: forget that when the Lord's help is no longer considered essential. Remember,
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  Speaker 3: Yusiah was great until his heart became proud. By the way,
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  Speaker 3: when you stop praying and worship becomes a perfunctory exercise
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  Speaker 3: or a display of someone's gifts, God delivers forth. When
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  Speaker 3: reproofs and warnings are resisted instead of respected. Let me
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  Speaker 3: pause here and clarify that not every criticism is an
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  Speaker 3: appropriate reproof or warning. Those in leadership must always discern
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  Speaker 3: where that reproof or warning is coming from. Is it
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  Speaker 3: from a spirit filled individual? Is it from a person
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  Speaker 3: who himself or herself has a heart that's right before God?
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  Speaker 3: Is that individual mature, discerning, fair balanced. A large ministry
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  Speaker 3: easily draws people who are looking for a place to shine. Please,
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  Speaker 3: please don't apply. When reproofs and warnings are resisted instead
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  Speaker 3: of respected, you're in trouble. Finally, beware when the consequences
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  Speaker 3: of sin no longer bring fear. Although obviously out of
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  Speaker 3: bounds in the temple, even though the priest named Azariah
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  Speaker 3: confronted Usiah appropriately and firmly, Usiah wasn't afraid, and he
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  Speaker 3: should have fallen to his knees and said, I am
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  Speaker 3: the man, just as David did when Nathan confronted him.
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  Speaker 3: Standing where we stand today, ladies and gentlemen, we need
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  Speaker 3: this reminder. We have been greatly blessed. We have grown,
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  Speaker 3: we have become known without any attempt to promote. We
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  Speaker 3: do not even advertise. But the word is out and
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  Speaker 3: our best days are ahead of us by his grace.
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  Speaker 3: But as Alexander White writes in one of his fine
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  Speaker 3: books on Bible characters, we hang very heavy weights on
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  Speaker 3: very thin wires. Maybe never forget the source of our
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  Speaker 3: strength and the reason for our growth, and the one
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  Speaker 3: who alone deserves the glory. Let's pray may we never
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  Speaker 3: forget this today, our father, May it be a stinging
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  Speaker 3: and stunning reminder that this is all about you. This
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  Speaker 3: is all about your work. This is all about your songs,
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  Speaker 3: This is all about your word, This is all about
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  Speaker 3: your plan, This is all about your mission. This growth
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  Speaker 3: is all about your favor, your pleasure. This new place
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  Speaker 3: is all about your name. And maybe forever and ever,
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  Speaker 3: lift up that name that is above every name, that
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  Speaker 3: at the name of Jesus, every knee will ultimately bow
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  Speaker 3: in the name of our Savior and Master.
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  Speaker 1: We pray.
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  Speaker 3: Everyone said amen. Everyone said amen. Everyone said amen. All right.
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  Speaker 2: God will not share his glory, not with a king,
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  Speaker 2: not with a ministry, not with any one of us.
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  Speaker 2: And the moment we forget that is the moment we
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  Speaker 2: reach for credit that belongs only to Him. Stay with
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  Speaker 2: us because Chucks Wundall has some important closing comments for
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  Speaker 2: us coming up in just a moment. First, did you
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  Speaker 2: know that Insight for Living has assembled a variety of
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Bible study tools for this series on the attributes of God.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: In fact, there's a special bundle that includes the Searching
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: the Scripture's Bible Study workbook and the complete collection of
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: sermons on CD and MP three. The series is called
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: How Great is Our God? To purchase these resources right now,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: go to insight dot org slash offer. Have you ever
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: thought of yourself as a steward of the mysteries of God?
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Probably not, but it's a title that Paul assumed in
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: the first century. Here's Chuck, I.
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  Speaker 6: Want you to sit with a phrase for just a moment.
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  Speaker 6: Six words from the apostle Paul, writing to that ragged carnal,
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  Speaker 6: deeply confused church in Corinth. Stewards of the mysteries of God.
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  Speaker 6: That's what Paul called himself. That's what he called the
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  Speaker 6: Corinthian Leaders. And if you've trusted Christ, that's part of
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  Speaker 6: your calling too, to help steward the mysteries of God.
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  Speaker 6: Think about what that meant in Corinth. That city was
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  Speaker 6: a mess, sophisticated, worldly, impressed with itself, running every direction
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  Speaker 6: but the right one. And right in the middle of it,
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  Speaker 6: God planted a church and said, you are the caretakers
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  Speaker 6: of my story. The gospel was brand new to the Gentiles.
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  Speaker 6: They were outsiders their whole lives, strangers to the promises,
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  Speaker 6: aliens to the Covenant. And suddenly the mystery was revealed,
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  Speaker 6: Jew and Gentile alike. Whosoever will the cross swings open
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  Speaker 6: for everyone. And from that moment on, the.
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  Speaker 3: Stewardship passed to us. Can you imagine anything more humbling.
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  Speaker 3: God didn't entrust this story to governments or institutions or
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  Speaker 3: people who had it all together. He entrusted it to us,
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  Speaker 3: ordinary people. That stewardship is not a burden. It's the
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  Speaker 3: greatest privilege I have ever known. And it's precisely why
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  Speaker 3: Inside for Living exists. Every broadcast is an act of stewardship,
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  Speaker 3: every Bible study, every post, every program that goes out
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  Speaker 3: over the airwaves and across the Internet. That's us together,
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  Speaker 3: faithfully tending the mystery we've been entrusted to proclaim. June
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  Speaker 3: thirtieth is almost here. As we close this fiscal year,
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  Speaker 3: I want to ask you, fellow steward to invest in
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: this sacred responsibility we share. Your gift keeps the story
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: going for our generation for the next one. Boldly together,
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: it's the Cross that we proclaim.
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  Speaker 2: As Christians, we are caretakers of God's story, and today
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  Speaker 2: we're inviting you to join Chucks Wendall and the entire
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  Speaker 2: team here at Insight for living on this sake responsibility
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  Speaker 2: to proclaim the Cross. Here's how to get in touch.
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  Speaker 2: Call us at eight hundred seven seven to two eighty
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  Speaker 2: eight eighty eight, or go online to Insight dot org
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  Speaker 2: slash donate. To express our gratitude for your partnership, we'd
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: like to send you a brand new booklet that Chuck's written,
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: called The Cross We Proclaim. In it, Chuck returns to
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: the ancient words of the Apostle Paul and asks a
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  Speaker 2: searching question, have you truly come to grips with the
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: message of the Cross, not as a doctrine to affirm,
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  Speaker 2: but as a transforming.
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  Speaker 1: Reality to live by. The booklet is yours.
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  Speaker 2: When you make a gift to support the ministry of
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Insight for Living. To send a contribution in the mail,
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: just address your envelope to Insight for Living post Office
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five three four. That's
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: post Office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five three four.
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  Speaker 2: You can also call us at eight hundred seven seven
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: to two eighty eight eighty eight, or give online at
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Insight dot org slash donate.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: I'm Bill Meyer.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Join us when Chuckswyndall talks about the Holiness of God
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Friday on Insight for Living.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: The preceding message, The.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Glory of God, was copyrighted in two thousand and eight,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: two thousand and nine, twenty sixteen, twenty nineteen, and twenty
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: twenty six, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: twenty six by Charles R.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Swindahll Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.