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Looking-Ahead-to-Things-That-Last-Msg-5 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Well, only a few days ago we began all of
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Speaker 1: it right in this room. We were a root full
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Speaker 1: of strangers. Now we feel like we're a family, and
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Speaker 1: certainly closer friends. There's something great about coming back to
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Speaker 1: the place where things started and sort of renewing and
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Speaker 1: refreshing the memory of what has taken place in between.
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Speaker 1: It's been a grand week, unforgettable in many ways. Sometime
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Speaker 1: I take the long road home in my pickup after
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Speaker 1: church on Sunday, and there are some back roads in
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Speaker 1: the northern part of Texas that are delightful to take
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Speaker 1: where you can drive a little slower if you love motorcycles.
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Speaker 1: They are what is seen on the map is the
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Speaker 1: blue highway ways, the black asphalt roads usually two lane
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Speaker 1: that lead to somewhere. But where they lead isn't important.
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Speaker 1: Is the fact that they are winding along those roads
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Speaker 1: that you sort of fall in love with. And often
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Speaker 1: when I'm on those back roads alone and have a
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Speaker 1: chance to do so, I will pop in one of
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Speaker 1: those great theologians like Waylon Jennings, and I'll listen to
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Speaker 1: Whylan as he sings in My favorite album of his
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Speaker 1: is The Eagle, And then it is a great piece
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Speaker 1: that goes like this, splintered wood and rusty chains, This
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Speaker 1: old front porch swing remains a pendulum of memories, swinging
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Speaker 1: back and forth on a summer breeze, singing old church
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Speaker 1: hymns and nursery rhymes from the day's way back before
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Speaker 1: my time with a little child upon my knees, singing
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Speaker 1: every sweet word back to me. Look how far I
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Speaker 1: had to come to get back where I started from
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Speaker 1: with a child's wisdom, passing time singing old church hymns
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Speaker 1: and nursery rhymes doesn't get a lot better than that, Folks.
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Speaker 1: There may be advancements in technology, and there may be
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Speaker 1: all kinds of inventions out before us, and everything you
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Speaker 1: get is going to be obsolete at that time. But
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Speaker 1: there'll be some things that will never be obsolete, some
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Speaker 1: things that will never ever lose their depth and their significance.
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Speaker 1: Some of those things have been hours through this week,
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Speaker 1: and you will find as you get older that some
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Speaker 1: of those things that you learned early in life makes
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Speaker 1: so much better sense now. I think you get a
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Speaker 1: little more courageous. I remember asking Lauren Sannie when he
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Speaker 1: was President Navigators, not too long before he was gone
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Speaker 1: from this earth, we were celebrating his birthday. I forget
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Speaker 1: which one it was, getting up in years, and I said,
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Speaker 1: what's the difference now, Lauren, and earlier in your life
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Speaker 1: had a great answer, said, well, Chuck, now I'm not
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Speaker 1: afraid of anybody. I think it's a great answer. Remind
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Speaker 1: me of the story of one bright, beautiful Sunday morning.
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Speaker 1: The townspeople were in church listening to the Oregon play.
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Speaker 1: Suddenly Satan appeared at the front of the church. Everyone
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Speaker 1: started screaming and running for the front entrance or the
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Speaker 1: back entrance, every exit they could get out. They were
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Speaker 1: trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away
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Speaker 1: from evil incarnate. Soon everyone was evacuated from the church
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Speaker 1: except for one old gentleman who sat calmly in his pew,
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Speaker 1: not moving, seemingly oblivious to the fact that God's ultimate
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Speaker 1: enemy was in his presence. This sort of confused Satan,
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Speaker 1: and so he walked over to the old man said
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Speaker 1: don't you know who I am? The old man replied, yep,
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Speaker 1: sure do. Satan asked, aren't you afraid of me? Nope,
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Speaker 1: sure ain't the old man. Satan was a little perturbed
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Speaker 1: at this and asked why are you afraid of me?
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Speaker 1: The old man replied, been married to your sister for
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Speaker 1: forty eight years. Just get a little more courageous as
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Speaker 1: time passes. Not like that. When you and out were
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Speaker 1: here for the first time, I forget what day it was.
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Speaker 1: I think it was Sunday night I told you about
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Speaker 1: where we were going. Then Monday morning it was. We
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Speaker 1: began to work our way through five or six principles
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Speaker 1: that we learned really matter. These things really do matter.
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Speaker 1: So if you've got that page in your notebook handy
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Speaker 1: for today, I'd really like it if you'd go turn
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Speaker 1: to that or at least some sheet you have a
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Speaker 1: piece of paper somewhere, and get your pen handy, and
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Speaker 1: I just want to review them. I won't develop them
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Speaker 1: any further, but I'll just remind you of where we
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Speaker 1: were about sick days ago. First, Biblical principles are more
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Speaker 1: important than traditional opinions. Biblical principles are more important than
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Speaker 1: traditional opinions. Throughout your life, you'll have a lot of
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Speaker 1: opinions being formed, some yours and often others. They're never
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Speaker 1: as solid or more important than the biblical biblical principles
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Speaker 1: that you learn. Second, personal relationships are more valuable than
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Speaker 1: individual accomplishments. Personal relationships are more valuable than individual accomplishments.
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Speaker 1: I hope you will remember that when the cruise is over,
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Speaker 1: we're back in Seattle, sitting on a curve, beating a
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Speaker 1: hot dog, waiting for plane to take off, nobody waiting
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Speaker 1: on us, nobody to turn down our bed at night
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Speaker 1: when we get home. I hope you'll remember that when
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Speaker 1: you go back to that stack of bills and all
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Speaker 1: the things that have been going on while you've been gone.
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Speaker 1: I hope you won't forget the value of personal relationships.
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Speaker 1: It's taking a little more time, listen, a little better, walk,
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Speaker 1: a little slower, care a little more deeply, relate a
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Speaker 1: little more authentically. Third, domestic priorities rate higher than church programs.
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Speaker 1: Domestic priorities rate higher than church programs. Some churches make
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Speaker 1: the mistake of keeping us too busy. I'm of the
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Speaker 1: opinion the churches have too many meetings, and most of
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Speaker 1: them last too long. They kind of run together. I
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Speaker 1: heard a Baptist deacon back here say that we'll do
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Speaker 1: something about it. Brother, if you're a pastor, you can
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Speaker 1: think about it for you. Add meetings, sometimes the best
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Speaker 1: things that happen happen at home around bedtime, or sitting
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Speaker 1: around a kitchen table, or fiddling around with something related
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Speaker 1: to the kids. Number four, Positive reinforcement is better than
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Speaker 1: negative reactions. Saying yes every chance you get, remember the
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Speaker 1: principal saying yes more often. Positive reinforcement so much better
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Speaker 1: than negative reactions. Number five, This will hit home. Unconditional
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Speaker 1: forgiveness is much preferred to lingering probation. Unconditional forgiveness so
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Speaker 1: much better than lingering probation. I spoke to a man
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Speaker 1: before the meeting started. He said, I come from a
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Speaker 1: family where grudges are held all the way to the grave.
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Speaker 1: That's a tough thing to get over. If you were
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Speaker 1: wearing a family like that, I urge you three words,
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Speaker 1: get over it, get past it. It's a terrible way
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Speaker 1: to live your life. We'll all have people we could
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Speaker 1: blame for something. As we learned yesterday, we've all been
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Speaker 1: hurt by somebody. Grudges are a dreadful way to go
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Speaker 1: to our grave. It's wonderful to cultivate relationships with people
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Speaker 1: that are so close they last all through and to
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Speaker 1: the end of life. Paul and I have a real
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Speaker 1: good friend named Jay Kessler. Jay was for years president
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Speaker 1: of Taylor University and before that deeply involved for over
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Speaker 1: twenty years with Youth for Christ and great man. One
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Speaker 1: of the finest men I've ever known, one of the
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Speaker 1: ten remarkable men I would write about someday if I
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Speaker 1: were to ever write on Jay said, one of my
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Speaker 1: goals in life is to cultivate a relationship with at
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Speaker 1: least eight guys, each one of whom will hold a
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Speaker 1: handle on my casket and sit through the service without
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Speaker 1: once checking their watch. I hope. But the end of
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Speaker 1: your life, you got eight people that will sit through
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Speaker 1: the service with their cell phone off and never once
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Speaker 1: look at their watch. If you do, you're a very
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Speaker 1: wealthy person. If you do, you've learned the value of forgiveness,
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Speaker 1: because everyone of those people need to be forgiven for something. Finally,
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Speaker 1: Number six, mutual respect is of greater concern than chain
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Speaker 1: of command. Cynthia and I have lived together long enough
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Speaker 1: to learn that. When I was early married, I about
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Speaker 1: ruined our marriage, as I told you earlier, first ten
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Speaker 1: years with a hell on earth for her, as I
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Speaker 1: was working overtime to make her just like me. And
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Speaker 1: that came from a lack of respect her. It came
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Speaker 1: from a forming of a habit that I had learned elsewhere,
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Speaker 1: and I have learned over the years the value of respect.
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Speaker 1: And when you really respect your spouse, you have no
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Speaker 1: problem with submission. When she says things, you listen to it,
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Speaker 1: and you often realize that's smarter than what I was thinking.
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Speaker 1: And you you adjust yourself to her counsel. When she
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Speaker 1: is in need of something, and you graciously and with
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Speaker 1: respect give it, she will say to herself, I'm so
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Speaker 1: grateful I have you. And the issue of who's in
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Speaker 1: charge here, of the who's the head, does not emerge.
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Speaker 1: What emerges is a mutual sense of respect, and that's
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Speaker 1: preferred to this constant emphasis on a chain of command. Now, today,
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Speaker 1: I want to talk for a few minutes about looking
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Speaker 1: ahead to the things that last, what will last regardless
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Speaker 1: of what happens. We have a president in the United States,
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Speaker 1: what will occur there? I don't know what will change.
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Speaker 1: We're watching a lot of changes. I'm no politician, and
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Speaker 1: I'm not qualified to address that. We live in a
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Speaker 1: day in which everything seems to be changing. Most things
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Speaker 1: are up for grabs. Economic times are so different. Many
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Speaker 1: of us can hardly remember the days when it was
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Speaker 1: sort of an easy flow. There was not only a
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Speaker 1: chicken in every pot and grape on every vine, there
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Speaker 1: was a car dealership on every corner. And now they're
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Speaker 1: shutting down, along with a lot of Starbucks, a lot
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Speaker 1: of that's all gonna change. There's gonna be more things
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Speaker 1: shutting down, more things changing. What will last? What will
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Speaker 1: remain the same regardless, what's going to go on from
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Speaker 1: now on till you're dead, your grandkids are dead, your
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Speaker 1: great grandkids are going on. If the Lord terries, what
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Speaker 1: will not change? What's going to last. Let's go back
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Speaker 1: to where we started, and that's in Genesis chapter one,
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Speaker 1: or yeah, Genesis one, where we come to that original
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Speaker 1: idea of the home and family. Before there were people
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Speaker 1: on the planet, God was the only one, the only being.
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Speaker 1: And God made a decision because he chose to people
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Speaker 1: this earth with those who would bear his image. Verse
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Speaker 1: twenty six tells us God said, let us make man
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Speaker 1: in our image according to our likeness, and let them
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Speaker 1: rule over the fish, and over the birds, and over
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Speaker 1: the cattle, and over all the earth and even the
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Speaker 1: things that creep on the earth. So God created man
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Speaker 1: he says it again in his own image, and he
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Speaker 1: repeats it in the image of God. The animals were
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Speaker 1: not created in the image of God. This is a
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Speaker 1: reason we don't worship animals. We can love and enjoy
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Speaker 1: and have an affectionate relationship with animals, but they're not
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Speaker 1: in the image of God. They are not if you
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Speaker 1: will eternal in soul, as humans are. Everything gets reversed
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Speaker 1: when you get things screwed up. Theologically, the only thing
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Speaker 1: on this earth that is eternal, the only two things
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Speaker 1: human beings and the Word of God. Heaven and earth
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Speaker 1: will pass away, but his Word will never pass away.
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Speaker 1: And because we have eternal souls made in the image
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Speaker 1: of God, just as God will never pass away, we
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Speaker 1: with eternal souls will never pass away. In that sense,
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Speaker 1: everyone has eternal life, but we don't have the same destinies.
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Speaker 1: All of us will live forever, our souls will never
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Speaker 1: stop existing. Some will exist in the place called Heaven.
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Speaker 1: Are a dozen or more synonyms for Heaven, the Celestial City,
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Speaker 1: Glory of Canaan, the Promised Land, and on and on.
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Speaker 1: The songs go about Heaven and the others, of course,
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Speaker 1: the place of the Abyss, the Lake of fire prepared
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Speaker 1: originally for the devil and his angels. But those who
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Speaker 1: die without Christ will have their eternity there tragic thought,
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Speaker 1: and will keep you awake at night when you really pondering.
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Speaker 1: We all have eternal lives, but the destiny will differ
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Speaker 1: according to what we do with Christ during our lifetime.
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Speaker 1: And for the first time, in Scripture Chapter two, verse eighteen,
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Speaker 1: we saw the first time we got into God's word together,
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Speaker 1: the Lord God said it's not good for the man
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Speaker 1: to be alone. He looked at Adam all alone and
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Speaker 1: said that's not good. In the Hebrew sentence, the words
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Speaker 1: not good appear first, not good, and in the Bible,
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Speaker 1: when the original languages are written, words are placed out
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Speaker 1: of order for emphasis. In our English Bibles, we place
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Speaker 1: emphasis on words by putting them in italics font or
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Speaker 1: we put an exclamation point at the end of the
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Speaker 1: sentence that emphasizes it. In the Bible original languages, words
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Speaker 1: are put out of order for emphasis. Not good, that
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Speaker 1: man be alone, the aloneness of man, not good, the
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Speaker 1: aloneness of man. And so with that he corrects the problem.
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Speaker 1: God is wonderful at that. He immediately says, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to make him a helper suitable for him, one who
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Speaker 1: corresponds to him. I often say, the man sang the melody,
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Speaker 1: and the woman he gave to the man sang the harmony.
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Speaker 1: The man added the basic black and white. The woman
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Speaker 1: brought the color. The man brought to the setting the
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Speaker 1: things that are sort of practical and everyday need meeting things.
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Speaker 1: And the woman brought the touch, the emotion, the affection,
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Speaker 1: the joy, the softness, the gentleness of life. It's a beautiful,
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Speaker 1: beautiful setting. So let's go here first. Number one, if
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Speaker 1: you're writing them down, I'm only going to give you
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Speaker 1: three things that will last. Number one, the institution of
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Speaker 1: marriage and the family will last. The institutions of marriage
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Speaker 1: and the family will last. Now, you and I are
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Speaker 1: going to live to be shocked beyond our wildest imaginations.
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Speaker 1: In the days ahead, we already are being all things
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Speaker 1: are recurring to take shots at the traditional idea of
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Speaker 1: one man and one woman marrying for life. Now the
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Speaker 1: genders are mixed. Now they are same sex marriage. Never
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Speaker 1: in God's plan, that is not a politically correct thing
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Speaker 1: to say. That's why I love to say it. God
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Speaker 1: planned one man and one woman to be joined together,
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Speaker 1: and in that relationship to have their family as he
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Speaker 1: would provide the offspring. And it's exactly as he arranged it,
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Speaker 1: and it will never pass away. Your daughter, your son
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Speaker 1: seeking marriage, They are seeking what is the most natural
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Speaker 1: and God given of institutions. It is a divine institution
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Speaker 1: that there'd be husbands and wife. Do I say that
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Speaker 1: some are not called for seeing I didn't say that.
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Speaker 1: For example, in my own family, my sister has never married.
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Speaker 1: And you who go to women of faith, you know
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Speaker 1: that's true. She tells all these funny stories about life,
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Speaker 1: and she has it today. She's probably the most satisfied
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Speaker 1: single person ever I've ever known. Furthermore, she puts it,
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Speaker 1: if I'd ever married, there would have been a homicide.
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Speaker 1: So it's a good thing I never never did marry,
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Speaker 1: and I tend to agree my mother. My mother wanted
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Speaker 1: my sister married. My mother played that role for the
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Speaker 1: longest time and tried to hook my sister up with
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Speaker 1: different men. They're all good men, but my sister was
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Speaker 1: busy yawning herself away. I'm not called there. So she's
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Speaker 1: never been married. You may have never been married, you married,
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Speaker 1: your marriage may have gone under, and so there's nothing
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Speaker 1: wrong with your sitting right now. You're among us today.
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Speaker 1: You're a part of this family. Our church is filled
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Speaker 1: with all different mixes of individuals. And so I say
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Speaker 1: to you who are married, stay strong, stay strong. It's
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Speaker 1: gonna last. You help make it last. You're a part
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Speaker 1: of the reason it lasts. The things you've heard this
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Speaker 1: week all are applicable to a marriage. Cynthia's words about
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Speaker 1: forgiveness yesterday all applicable to a marriage. Every spouse has
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Speaker 1: things they must forgive in the life of their partner,
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Speaker 1: every one of us. It may not sound too exciting
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Speaker 1: or whatever, but when people ask about our marriage, I say,
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Speaker 1: we have a reasonably good marriage. Cynthia doesn't like that,
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Speaker 1: but I use those words lest anybody think that our
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Speaker 1: marriage is full of fantastic. How was the day fantastic?
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Speaker 1: How was it this morning? Manficent, You have no idea
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Speaker 1: how great it was over coffee together? Magnificent getting that
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Speaker 1: coffee in, drinking it together. How was the conversation? Fantastic conversation?
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Speaker 1: What a croc It is not that it is a
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Speaker 1: reasonably good marriage. She puts up with things. You're not
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Speaker 1: at all surprised, are you? She had put up with
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Speaker 1: this stuff for fifty four, fifty five, fifty six years.
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Speaker 1: It just goes on and on, and sometimes she says, oh,
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Speaker 1: you're driving me up a wall, And then I remind
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Speaker 1: her of her message onforgiveness and that hell and stuff
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Speaker 1: she does bugs me that that's just part of life.
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Speaker 1: We're different, we're different. We just celebrate the differences. You
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Speaker 1: are different from your partner. Let the difference be you
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Speaker 1: didn't make your partner. God did. By the way, the
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Speaker 1: reason you chose your spouse is because she was different.
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Speaker 1: Now how come you don't leave it like that? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: they have to harmonize, but it's gonna last. Stay strong,
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Speaker 1: Stay strong in this relationship, keep that marriage strong. If
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Speaker 1: you're engaged in one, and don't tell me because you're
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Speaker 1: getting older, it's kind of losing his luster. That's your problem.
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Speaker 1: It's not marriage problem. You're gonna need her or you're
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Speaker 1: gonna need him someday. I don't know if you watched it,
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Speaker 1: but during a lull in this in this week, I
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Speaker 1: took the time to watch the Lou Garrig scene. I
22:53
Speaker 1: must be reunion time or something, or anniversary time for
22:58
Speaker 1: his leaving the game of baseball, And it was It
23:02
Speaker 1: was a moving scene as it described his life, and
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Speaker 1: of course he got what has now that come to
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Speaker 1: be known as Louke Garrig's disease, and little by little
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Speaker 1: he began to fade. This magnificent athlete stood only in
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Speaker 1: the shadow of Babe Ruth. Some think a man of
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Speaker 1: even greater character than Ruth played on that magnificent in
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Speaker 1: the Yankees team pulled away and announced over that that speech.
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Speaker 1: Remember that speech, I'm the luckiest man in the world.
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Speaker 1: He thought he could whip the disease. He thought he
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Speaker 1: could overcome it. Little by little, it was reduced, little
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Speaker 1: by little, it faded. Finally he dies with this disease.
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Speaker 1: He needed eleanor so much. Toward the end of that
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Speaker 1: you have friends, and we have friends who really need
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Speaker 1: each other. Your marriage will last. And when it comes
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Speaker 1: to that point and you need each other to help
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Speaker 1: the other walk, and help the other eat, and help
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Speaker 1: the other with the bathroom needs and bed needs and
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Speaker 1: dressing needs, you will be so glad you held it together.
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Speaker 1: Stay strong in your marriage. What else will last? Well?
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Speaker 1: Remember the principles we gave you. Toward the end of
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Speaker 1: chapter two, we read for this reason, a man shall
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Speaker 1: leave his father and his mother and be joined to
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Speaker 1: his wife. Look closely. Both of them will leave their
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Speaker 1: parents and they will be joined to their spouse, and
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Speaker 1: they'll become one flesh. It's a picture of bonding, gluing together.
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Speaker 1: And we read that the man and his wife were naked,
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Speaker 1: not only physically, but they were naked emotionally. There were
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Speaker 1: no secrets, there was no hiding, just open free. There
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Speaker 1: was liberty. We called it along with intimacy. Here's the
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Speaker 1: second thing that won't change. God's plan, and requirements for
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Speaker 1: domestic harmony will last. God's plan and God's requirements for
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Speaker 1: domestic harmony will last. God holds the original patent on marriage.
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Speaker 1: He knows it better anyone. This is called a passage
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Speaker 1: of primary reference. If you were in seminary, you were
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Speaker 1: studying this, the prophet would tell you what we have here,
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Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, is a passage of primary reference, meaning
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Speaker 1: it's the first reference principles regarding a marriage. And then
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Speaker 1: you would dig into the subject. In these last two verses,
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Speaker 1: a passage a primary reference. I have a friend who
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Speaker 1: is a musician, and he said, when he first started
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Speaker 1: the first thing he would do is just try to
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Speaker 1: come up with what he called the primitive line. Then
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Speaker 1: a good way to put it, just the rough primitive
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Speaker 1: line of the music. These musicians know all about that.
26:24
Speaker 1: Everything starts with a melody. You play it over in
26:29
Speaker 1: your mind, you put together that's a melody of primary reference.
26:36
Speaker 1: It's the ground zero of the song. Whether it's a
26:40
Speaker 1: symphony or a folk tune, there's one melody that plays
26:45
Speaker 1: in the mind and the composure. God has this melody playing,
26:49
Speaker 1: and he has worked it out with severance and permanence
26:53
Speaker 1: and intimacy and liberty and unity, all these great plans
26:58
Speaker 1: put together, and he spelled it out. And when you
27:01
Speaker 1: read through his word, you learn things about parental authority
27:06
Speaker 1: and responsibility. You learn about love mixed with discipline. You
27:10
Speaker 1: learned about affirmation and affection. You learned about relationships and
27:17
Speaker 1: marrying in the Lord, and unselfishness. The old Lutheran theologian
27:27
Speaker 1: Lensky has said, if we could just remove selfishness from
27:32
Speaker 1: the human race, we could replant the garden of Eden.
27:36
Speaker 1: Not a good way to put it, You could just
27:39
Speaker 1: replant it. I don't know of any enemy in the
27:42
Speaker 1: home worse than selfishness, no enemy greater in our lives.
27:48
Speaker 1: When it comes to being parents, than selfishness, boy, and
27:52
Speaker 1: kids will really push that button. You learn about all
27:58
Speaker 1: of that, all these qualities that make for a marriage,
28:02
Speaker 1: and you learn they work. The reason I love doing
28:06
Speaker 1: what I do is because my stuff never goes out
28:09
Speaker 1: of date. I turned to a book that is timeless
28:13
Speaker 1: as it is true, and I present the truths of it,
28:17
Speaker 1: and by goodness, the result the response is incredible. Following
28:22
Speaker 1: a church service the other day, a man walked up
28:26
Speaker 1: to me and he said, kind of gruff tone, my
28:29
Speaker 1: wife talked to you, right. I said, no, no, no, no,
28:37
Speaker 1: she talked to you right, She talked, she called you Tazha.
28:39
Speaker 1: No she didn't. You're telling me my wife. And he
28:43
Speaker 1: wouldn't give up. And I said, look, I donly I
28:45
Speaker 1: don't know you and I don't know your wife, and
28:48
Speaker 1: nobody talked to me. He said that how come you
28:50
Speaker 1: said what you did. I I got it from the
28:57
Speaker 1: by I know, I know, but you like like read
29:00
Speaker 1: my mail like you've been looking at my window. I said,
29:04
Speaker 1: I know. Happens to me all the time. It's like
29:08
Speaker 1: somebody read my need and put it in a book
29:11
Speaker 1: and then makes me preach it. And I tell people
29:14
Speaker 1: I preach what I do because I need to hear
29:16
Speaker 1: these things. And I'll let you listen in and I
29:18
Speaker 1: learn with you. It's timeless. It's not going to change.
29:24
Speaker 1: The guidelines for a marriage, the guidelines for a life,
29:29
Speaker 1: they're all right here. So be good students of the
29:33
Speaker 1: Word of God. And don't fall back on the fact
29:38
Speaker 1: that your pastor doesn't preach the Bible. If he doesn't,
29:41
Speaker 1: get out of the church and go to one where
29:42
Speaker 1: he does, if he doesn't teach yourself. You need good
29:48
Speaker 1: original meals from the Bible. Get into the Word of God.
29:54
Speaker 1: And so, having said stay strong about the first principle,
29:58
Speaker 1: let me add the words here, stay discerning, state discerning
30:05
Speaker 1: regarding what God has said about the church and about
30:12
Speaker 1: marriage and about life. I just finished reading an interesting
30:19
Speaker 1: book called The Divine Commodity. The Divine Commodity by Sky Jathani.
30:27
Speaker 1: I don't know him, but in it he's talking about
30:33
Speaker 1: the profound mystery of God and how we live in
30:39
Speaker 1: such a shallow age. Everybody wants to make everything shallow,
30:43
Speaker 1: and we don't want to leave any questions unanswered or
30:46
Speaker 1: or any page unturned as it relates to God. Rather
30:50
Speaker 1: than saying there are some things about him that are
30:52
Speaker 1: just mysterious. There are times I will even say in
30:57
Speaker 1: my prayer, Lord, I don't know what you're up to.
31:00
Speaker 1: Will help me to figure it out, or at least
31:02
Speaker 1: adapt to it, because it's beyond me. So he writes
31:05
Speaker 1: this about that I'll talk about discernment. It ties in
31:09
Speaker 1: the abundance of our definitive words about God shows that
31:12
Speaker 1: we don't view him as a great mystery anymore, but
31:16
Speaker 1: as a sterile calculation without ambiguity or obscurity. And not surprisingly,
31:23
Speaker 1: this definitive God usually conforms nicely to our personal desires
31:28
Speaker 1: and politics. The resurgence of the prosperity Gospel movement is
31:35
Speaker 1: one sign of this. Quoted in a Time magazine article
31:39
Speaker 1: titled Does God Want You to be rich? One television
31:44
Speaker 1: preacher says, who would want to get in on something
31:48
Speaker 1: where you're miserable, poor, broke and ugly and you just
31:54
Speaker 1: have to muddle through things until you get to heaven.
31:58
Speaker 1: The television preacher goes on to say, I believe God
32:01
Speaker 1: wants to give us nice things. She has a point,
32:06
Speaker 1: he adds, who would want an uncontrollable, mysterious and holy
32:10
Speaker 1: God when you can have a genie in a Bible
32:16
Speaker 1: beyond the name it and claim it crowd The desire
32:18
Speaker 1: for a definitive God explains our attraction to book titles
32:22
Speaker 1: like ten Prayers. God always says yes too. And why
32:29
Speaker 1: a leading Christian political figure could state authoritatively that God
32:34
Speaker 1: is this or God is that. It seems that God's
32:39
Speaker 1: view on politics, economic, social behavior, finances, entertainment, and every
32:44
Speaker 1: other subject are now a crystal clear one needs only
32:49
Speaker 1: to purchase the right book and tune into the right
32:51
Speaker 1: radio station or watch the right preacher on television. Be
32:55
Speaker 1: careful about any teacher that oversimplifies the living God. Now,
33:02
Speaker 1: certainly he is our father, and certainly we can relate
33:05
Speaker 1: to him as a father who loves us and desires
33:08
Speaker 1: a relationship with us. But please please pause before you
33:13
Speaker 1: ultimately analyze all about God. He is the Holy One.
33:18
Speaker 1: He is profound, And if the theologians I studied under,
33:22
Speaker 1: and these others in this group who are pastors and
33:25
Speaker 1: minister types have studied under, We're willing to say at
33:28
Speaker 1: some point, I do not know. At this point, I
33:32
Speaker 1: cannot explain how God is at work. That's a reliable source.
33:38
Speaker 1: Every once in a while it's just really healthy to
33:40
Speaker 1: say out of discernment. I back off here and I
33:45
Speaker 1: leave this with God. I can't explain it. So practice
33:51
Speaker 1: on occasions saying the three words I don't know. And
33:57
Speaker 1: you're following a reliable teacher when you hear her, are
34:00
Speaker 1: him say that from time to time, just things about
34:03
Speaker 1: his plan. I don't know, but we do know about
34:08
Speaker 1: these principles, and we know they will last. There's one
34:10
Speaker 1: more category. This one is a stinger. The effects of
34:18
Speaker 1: your influence will last. I'll develop that, but just put
34:24
Speaker 1: that down. The effects of your influence will last. I
34:31
Speaker 1: have in mind not only husband wife partnerships, but I
34:34
Speaker 1: have in mind parent child relationships, and I have friend
34:38
Speaker 1: with friend relationships. I have pastor with congregation relationships. Our
34:45
Speaker 1: influence lasts. You demonstrate thoughtfulness and care that will last.
34:54
Speaker 1: You sacrifice and carry out servanthood as a role model
34:58
Speaker 1: for leadership that will last, won't be forgotten. You model
35:04
Speaker 1: masculinity as a father, femininity and gentleness as a mother
35:10
Speaker 1: that will last, that will that will help your children
35:14
Speaker 1: learn roles that they fill as a little boy or
35:17
Speaker 1: a little girl, or a growing up son or daughter.
35:22
Speaker 1: You spend time with someone It will last. That's not
35:26
Speaker 1: wasted effort. You become a person of compassion and wisdom
35:34
Speaker 1: and true character. That will last. People will not forget.
35:40
Speaker 1: They'll come back and quote you, or they'll talk about
35:43
Speaker 1: the influence you had on them. The effective effect of
35:47
Speaker 1: your of your influence will last. Now the downside is soul.
35:51
Speaker 1: The negatives, your abuse in bringing pain or neglect will last.
35:59
Speaker 1: It'll be a deep scar that makes take some time
36:03
Speaker 1: for you to help soften. You may never be able
36:07
Speaker 1: to erase it, but you may be able to soften it.
36:09
Speaker 1: But it lasts. Your refusal to listen or to care,
36:15
Speaker 1: that lasts you're ignoring God's reproofs. You're walking away from commitments.
36:27
Speaker 1: It'll haunt you. It'll last. If you fail to give
36:33
Speaker 1: sufficient discipline at times when your children really need it,
36:38
Speaker 1: and I mean fair and balanced, but consistent discipline, it's
36:43
Speaker 1: something they'll find very hard to forgive because in the
36:47
Speaker 1: disciplines of your touch as a parent, they learn boundaries.
36:54
Speaker 1: They learned the stove is hot, no touching. They learn
36:59
Speaker 1: there are consequence insance to this kind of recreation. Don't
37:03
Speaker 1: go there. They learned that, They learned that they're irresponsible
37:09
Speaker 1: there's a downside to that, and they'll they'll discover the
37:13
Speaker 1: value of being responsible but without discipline, and by making
37:19
Speaker 1: all of the discipline time easier, it lasts and they
37:28
Speaker 1: wind up being adult spouses whose partners have to deal
37:33
Speaker 1: with the overflow of that pain. Kids that aren't taught
37:40
Speaker 1: to pick their things up marry and after marrying their
37:44
Speaker 1: spouses realize they now have to pick up after them.
37:47
Speaker 1: How juvenile is that mom and dad didn't teach them
37:51
Speaker 1: to pick their things up. Moms and dads that don't
37:55
Speaker 1: teach kids to be responsible released to marriage to daughters
37:59
Speaker 1: that are irre responsible, and husbands have to deal with
38:02
Speaker 1: an irresponsible wife. Our influence lasts don't sell that short.
38:12
Speaker 1: So no matter what changes, let me add this little word,
38:18
Speaker 1: stay faithful, stay strong, stay discerning, and now stay faithful,
38:26
Speaker 1: Stay faithful when this cruise is just a memory and
38:30
Speaker 1: maybe fades almost out of your memory. I hope that
38:34
Speaker 1: some of the things you've picked up here will continue on.
38:37
Speaker 1: You will have made some adjustments, some changes. You will
38:40
Speaker 1: make plans to seek forgiveness as a result of a
38:44
Speaker 1: message you heard, or you will have made plans to
38:47
Speaker 1: make things better between you and someone where there has
38:50
Speaker 1: been a strained relationship. It's great. Let me close our
38:57
Speaker 1: time together with a couple of important statements. They are
39:02
Speaker 1: really in the form of questions. Here's the first question. Well,
39:07
Speaker 1: I don't want you to just hear it. I want
39:08
Speaker 1: you to write it down. Are you investing in things
39:22
Speaker 1: that will last? Are you investing in things that will last?
39:33
Speaker 1: These are the things God honors. By the way, the
39:36
Speaker 1: world will consider them irrelevant. The world never does have
39:41
Speaker 1: a good standard things that are right. You're investing in
39:46
Speaker 1: your life in things that God honors. They will last.
39:50
Speaker 1: Don't expect support from the world system. Here's a surprising question,
39:58
Speaker 1: and I end on it on purpose us. It opens
40:01
Speaker 1: up a whole dimension to life for many of us.
40:04
Speaker 1: Here's the second. Do those investments include a few people
40:11
Speaker 1: God calls special? Do those investments you're making with your
40:19
Speaker 1: life include a few people God would call special? They're
40:29
Speaker 1: all around us. It's just so easy to overlook them
40:33
Speaker 1: because we're healthy and strong. It's easy to look past
40:37
Speaker 1: those who are neither. Who knows but what God keeps
40:42
Speaker 1: us healthy and strong so we can help meet the
40:44
Speaker 1: needs of those who are neither. I know you're living
40:52
Speaker 1: a busy life. And I know you have important things
40:54
Speaker 1: to do, and I know you have a lot of responsibilities.
41:01
Speaker 1: But take time every chance you get. You may be
41:06
Speaker 1: the only one who will. I like us to bow
41:12
Speaker 1: our heads together. Some of our best times have been
41:17
Speaker 1: spent with our heads bowed, and today is no exception.
41:24
Speaker 1: We've really come to the commencement, if you will, of
41:29
Speaker 1: our crews. In one way, things end. In other ways,
41:34
Speaker 1: they only begin. The living truth of what you have
41:38
Speaker 1: heard will be demonstrated in the months and years ahead.
41:43
Speaker 1: And I am just as accountable as you are. Not
41:50
Speaker 1: even the teacher is exempt from the teaching. And so Father,
41:56
Speaker 1: help us all as we work our way and sometimes
42:00
Speaker 1: stumble our way through this thing called life. To invest
42:05
Speaker 1: in things at last, to remember that our influence will
42:11
Speaker 1: never be forgotten, for good or ill, and that those
42:16
Speaker 1: who seem not really worth our time may be those
42:22
Speaker 1: most who will benefit from it. So slow us down enough, Lord,
42:28
Speaker 1: to notice the unknowns, as others would put it, the
42:33
Speaker 1: little people who have no one to care for them,
42:38
Speaker 1: the forgotten, the broken, the abused, even the members of
42:46
Speaker 1: our family. In Jesus' name, everybody said.
42:53
Speaker 2: They the preceding message looking ahead to Things That Last
43:00
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in two thousand and nine and the sound
43:03
Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
43:08
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
43:14
Speaker 2: Is grateful to w B Music Corporation and Warner Chapel Music, Inc.
43:19
Speaker 2: For permission to use the lyrics to the song Old
43:23
Speaker 2: Church Hymns and Nursery Rhymes, copyrighted in nineteen ninety by
43:27
Speaker 2: Beth Nielsen Chapman and performed by Waylon Jennings on Epic
43:32
Speaker 2: Records album The Eagle