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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Focus on These Things │ ... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Well, good morning. Let me add my word of welcome
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Speaker 1: to those of you who are guests on our campus today.
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Speaker 1: You may have heard of the four laws that Campus Crusade,
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Speaker 1: now called Crew, came out with under Bill Bright's leadership.
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Speaker 1: We have a fifth law, and that is that God
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Speaker 1: loves you, but we have a wonderful plan for your
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Speaker 1: life as well. If God wants you here, we want
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Speaker 1: you here, and we're glad that you've taken the time
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Speaker 1: to come to visit us and to spend the day
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Speaker 1: with us. It's a special privilege for us to have
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Speaker 1: our chancellor. Most of you know him by the name
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Speaker 1: Chuck Swindall. Doctor Charles Swindall serves not only is our
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Speaker 1: chancellor here at DTS, but also as the senior pastor
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Speaker 1: of the Stonebrier Community Church in Frisco, Texas, the voice
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Speaker 1: of insight for a living that's heard all around the world.
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Speaker 1: Many of you may be here today because of his voice,
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Speaker 1: and his encouragement, and his association and his allegiance and
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Speaker 1: affection for DTS. We deeply appreciate that he served the
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Speaker 1: Seminary as our fourth president and is known around the
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Speaker 1: world for his practical exposition of the scriptures and its
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Speaker 1: application to everyday life. He now serves, as I said,
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Speaker 1: as our chancellor, the pastor of a local church in Frisco.
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Speaker 1: He's married to his wife, Cynthia, and they reside in Frisco.
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Speaker 1: Love to spend time with their four grown children, their
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Speaker 1: ten grandchildren, and now six great grandchildren. They just got
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Speaker 1: back from leading the Insight for a Living tour to
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Speaker 1: Israel where they had how many buses Chuck ten thousand,
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Speaker 1: ten thousand? Some of them are still over there. They
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Speaker 1: don't know how to get him back. But would you
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Speaker 1: welcome Chuck Swindall to our platform this morning?
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Speaker 2: I'd be a little smart. It just seemed like ten
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Speaker 2: thousand some of our facult there, as our teachers and
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Speaker 2: others of you were a part of our shepherding team
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Speaker 2: with us in Israel. It was a great trip. We
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Speaker 2: just loved it. We're still getting people's responses to it.
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Speaker 2: I am so enthusiastic about Ministryak and Harney standing all right.
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Speaker 2: I was up at three point thirty this morning and
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Speaker 2: excited about being with you. Almost called Mark Bailey and
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Speaker 2: chose not to, but yeah, I didn't want to talk
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Speaker 2: to voicemail, and I came across A great great quote
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Speaker 2: from Ralph Wallo Emerson, who dates back to eighteen oh
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Speaker 2: three to eighteen eighty two, by the way, graduating from
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Speaker 2: Harvard age eighteen not bad, huh. He wrote this, Enthusiasm
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Speaker 2: is one of the most powerful engines of success. When
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Speaker 2: you do a thing, do it with all your might,
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Speaker 2: put your whole soul into it, Stamp it with your
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Speaker 2: own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic, be faithful,
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Speaker 2: and you will accomplish your objective. And then this great line,
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Speaker 2: nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. You believe that, yes,
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Speaker 2: two of us believe that.
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Speaker 1: That is.
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Speaker 2: That's the truth. These people earn their doctorate because they
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Speaker 2: stayed enthusiastic about their academic pursuit. They stay engazed as
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Speaker 2: faculty members because they are enthusiastic about what they do.
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Speaker 2: Their classes have students in them because they are enthusiastic
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Speaker 2: about what they're teaching. It's not just content, it's not
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Speaker 2: just good stuff they have to say. It's that they
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Speaker 2: say it with passion. And if they're like me, they
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Speaker 2: think if it in the daytime and they dream of
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Speaker 2: it at night. And I have never lost the joy
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Speaker 2: for ministry, and I think I'm in a room full
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Speaker 2: of people just like that, you who are looking at
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Speaker 2: us wondering if there's the place you ought to be.
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Speaker 2: We want you to know we'd love to have you.
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Speaker 2: As a student. Mark said it so well. If God
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Speaker 2: wants you here, we want you here. If he doesn't,
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Speaker 2: we don't want you here. And you know what I
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Speaker 2: mean by that. If it's his plan, then get out
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Speaker 2: of the way and get engaged, and with enthusiasm step
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Speaker 2: into it, full of anticipation for what God can do.
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Speaker 2: Yesterday I wrote down some thoughts regarding ministry that I've
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Speaker 2: never put together before, and because of that, I want
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Speaker 2: to glance over them as I share them with you,
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Speaker 2: And then I want to look at two verses out
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Speaker 2: of Philippians four. And then I want to give you
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Speaker 2: some practical things to noodle on for the rest of
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Speaker 2: your life as you think about ministry. But first, let
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Speaker 2: me go here. Without glamorizing it, I can say that
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Speaker 2: the most enriching and fulfilling and meaningful of all careers
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Speaker 2: is the ministry. At the same time, it could be
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Speaker 2: the most exasperating, exhausting, and frustrating of any work on
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Speaker 2: the planet. The demands and the responsibilities are enormous. The
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Speaker 2: dangers and the occupational hazards are numerous, and they can
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Speaker 2: lead to scandals and heartaches and broken homes and personal disasters.
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Speaker 2: In my years in ministry, I've not kept a book,
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Speaker 2: but I could have pretty well filled a small book
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Speaker 2: with names of people whose lives have become disasters, many
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Speaker 2: of whom studied right here, set in the very chairs
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Speaker 2: you will sit in as students. But because they fell victim,
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Speaker 2: because they lost their enthusiasm, because of their drifting into
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Speaker 2: the hazards, and because no one is immune to them,
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Speaker 2: became shipwrecked. And it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking to think of that.
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Speaker 2: At the same time, the accomplishments and the rewards are marvelous.
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Speaker 2: We're able to touch lives so deeply and so permanently
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Speaker 2: that they are changed forever. I don't know of another
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Speaker 2: career that could say that. Maybe the closest would be
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Speaker 2: teaching or coaching, but that would not be in the
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Speaker 2: realm of eternal things. We touch people in the temporal
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Speaker 2: as well as the eternal dimensions, and they're not the same.
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Speaker 2: Think of that, or we can be such an offense
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Speaker 2: obstacle in other spiritual lives that they walk away defeated,
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Speaker 2: and our calling gives us that much influence, which is
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Speaker 2: both invigorating and frightening. We can have that kind of
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Speaker 2: impact on people's lives. They can move forward or they
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Speaker 2: can retreat, often depending on us what we say and
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Speaker 2: even more importantly, what we do, whether we like it
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Speaker 2: or not. Being in this calling means that we are
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Speaker 2: someone's example to follow. We are someone's model to emulate.
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Speaker 2: And you won't like to hear this, but you are
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Speaker 2: and or you will be someone's hero. They will quote you,
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Speaker 2: they will remember you, even above many things about their
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Speaker 2: own parents. Tremendous influence on people's life. That explains why
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Speaker 2: Paul would say to Timothy, pay close attention to yourself
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Speaker 2: one Timothy four sixteen. Pay attention to yourself, Timothy. The
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Speaker 2: implication is other people do. I could go on, but
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Speaker 2: that's enough to get everyone's attention in this room. It's
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Speaker 2: also enough to justify my decision for us to turn
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Speaker 2: our full attention to two verses toward the end of
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Speaker 2: Philippians or really toward the center the core of Philippians
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Speaker 2: Chapter four. So if you've got a Bible or an
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Speaker 2: app with a it's in your phone. Please turn to
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Speaker 2: Philippians four, verses eight and nine. This is what I
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Speaker 2: call an excellent checklist from ministry. Believe it or not.
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Speaker 2: I go back to it frequently. Synth and I talk
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Speaker 2: about it as much as we do any verses of
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Speaker 2: scripture in the Bible. This sort of sums it up
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Speaker 2: and helps us stay on target, because, let's face it,
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Speaker 2: there are days you feel disappointed, underappreciated, and lacking in
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Speaker 2: that enthusiasm I've been talking about. So you need to
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Speaker 2: return to a checklist that will keep you on target.
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Speaker 2: I'm going to read the verses and then we'll go
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Speaker 2: back and we'll pull them apart and draw some application
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Speaker 2: from the Philippians for a Finally, brethren, brothers and sisters. Finally,
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Speaker 2: my friends in Philippi. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
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Speaker 2: whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever
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Speaker 2: is a good repute, says the new American standard, meaning
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Speaker 2: whatever leads to a good reputation or a good report,
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Speaker 2: whatever leads to a good report. If there is any excellence,
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Speaker 2: and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
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Speaker 2: Look at how he puts that focus focus, focus, come
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Speaker 2: back to these six things again and again and again.
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Speaker 2: I memorized that verse when I was working years ago
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Speaker 2: alongside a navigator representative. I was eight thousand miles from
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Speaker 2: home in the Marine Corps, and we were in a
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Speaker 2: scripture memory a program, and he tossed in Philippians four
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Speaker 2: eight Bob Newkirk, my friend did. And I'm so grateful.
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Speaker 2: I have used it over and over and over and
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Speaker 2: over again, like today. The reputation of whatever, whatever, whatever
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Speaker 2: whatever is helpful because it sort of drives home each one.
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Speaker 2: And then the next verse comes to the practical look
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Speaker 2: at what he says, and the things you have learned
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Speaker 2: and received and heard and seen in me practice these things.
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Speaker 2: Quite a statement, Paul. He doesn't say, and you've seen
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Speaker 2: in Christ, because they've not seen the Christ. He's gone,
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Speaker 2: He's been raised and ascended. But now on this earth
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Speaker 2: is a model that they can follow. His name is Paul,
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Speaker 2: and Paul isn't hesitant to say, these are things that
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Speaker 2: you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,
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Speaker 2: practiced them, and the God of Peace will be with you.
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Speaker 2: I want to take these six words and amplify them
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Speaker 2: just enough, just enough for us to understand what they mean.
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Speaker 2: We understand the English word, but perhaps we don't. We
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Speaker 2: haven't thought through the meaning of each one. Someone do
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Speaker 2: that with you. When you exposit the scriptures, you go
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Speaker 2: to the word of God. You put your finger on
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Speaker 2: the verse, You develop the verse, You explain the verse,
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Speaker 2: and help those who are listening to the teaching understand
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Speaker 2: what it says, what it means, and how it applies.
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Speaker 2: You do it in a way that is interesting and
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Speaker 2: as much as possible, creative, even at times colorful and illustrative,
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Speaker 2: but so that the truth of the scriptures will burst
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Speaker 2: alive in the minds of those who are hearing the
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Speaker 2: truth proclaim. It isn't about you, the same word that
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Speaker 2: you are opening up for them. That's your authority as well.
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Speaker 2: And so under the authority of the scriptures, we're going
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Speaker 2: to find out what these words mean. First, the word true.
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Speaker 2: Whatever is true. Since we're to focus on on this,
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Speaker 2: we need to know what that means. It's opposed to
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Speaker 2: anything that is deceptive, phony, today's words full of hot air, unreal.
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Speaker 2: As a minister of the Gospel, in whatever capacity you serve,
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Speaker 2: may you be known as a truth teller. You talk truth.
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Speaker 2: Someone comes for counsel. You talk truth, You listen to them,
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Speaker 2: You help filter out the things they are dealing with,
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Speaker 2: always using the truth as your standard, because some are
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Speaker 2: so confused they've lost touch with truth. Be a truth
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Speaker 2: seeker in your life. Teach and preach truth. Be known
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Speaker 2: as that kind of individual where folks can rely on
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Speaker 2: you to tell the truth. It's a good time for
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Speaker 2: me to just as a little sidebar here. Get into
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Speaker 2: the realm of your home. Talk truth with your spouse.
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Speaker 2: If you were married, uh, say the truth. We uh
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Speaker 2: we win them during our dating months or or weeks
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Speaker 2: or maybe years by Cynthia's in my experience days, Uh
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Speaker 2: you uh we we fell in love, and I mean
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Speaker 2: it was just in our case, it was quick. We
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Speaker 2: really we really knew that we are meant for each other.
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Speaker 2: And it wasn't that complicated. I just had to let
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Speaker 2: her get out of junior high school. That's the only
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Speaker 2: But when you're dating, you say things that you hope
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Speaker 2: will help win the person over. So you hedge on
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Speaker 2: the truth and you act like you like opera, or
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Speaker 2: you act like you like that particular sport or fishing
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Speaker 2: or whatever. Then you get married and you roll your
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Speaker 2: eyes when that is mentioned, because you didn't tell the truth.
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Speaker 2: Marriage will bring out the truth. No one knows the
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Speaker 2: truth of you like your spouse, or you with your spouse,
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Speaker 2: talk truth. I find all the time couples lying to
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Speaker 2: each other. We give half truth, we hold back information
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Speaker 2: what we are not good communicators, and as a result,
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Speaker 2: difficulties arise. This says, whatever is true, go there, go there.
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Speaker 2: You don't want to be committed to the truth. You
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Speaker 2: don't want to be in ministry. If you want to
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Speaker 2: fiddle around with what isn't true, don't go into ministry.
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Speaker 2: It's not for you. But if the truth draws you,
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Speaker 2: and if you're challenged by it, and if you find
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Speaker 2: yourself down deep inside loving it, this is for you.
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Speaker 2: Whatever is true. The word honorable is a little tough
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Speaker 2: word from the Greek to handle in the English. It
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Speaker 2: carries with it what says one writer, the dignity of holiness.
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Speaker 2: I like those words. The dignity of holiness. It includes
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Speaker 2: having proper motives, manners, and morals. Our world is filled
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Speaker 2: with filthy things and stuff that's flippant and shallow and
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Speaker 2: frivolous and cheap and vulgar. Uh. Most late night talk
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Speaker 2: show hosts model all the above. I think to be
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Speaker 2: funny you have to be filthy. And my dad used
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Speaker 2: to say, when you have to use dirty words, it
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Speaker 2: means your vocabulary is limited. When you are a person
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Speaker 2: who is honorable, you don't weaken your reputation by dipping
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Speaker 2: into what's course and questionable and cheap. This is a
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Speaker 2: wonderful standard for us in ministry. Perhaps the best idea
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Speaker 2: of this word is being worthy of others respect. I
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Speaker 2: like that being worthy of others respect honorable. The third
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Speaker 2: word is just. Whatever is just. I would call it
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Speaker 2: being fair and square in our dealings with others, whether
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Speaker 2: they're believers or unbelievers, whether it has to do with
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Speaker 2: turning in your papers or paying your bills, Being just
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Speaker 2: with others. There's an old word that comes from this upstanding.
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Speaker 2: The rich Carlton has as its motto. You can ask
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Speaker 2: anyone who works for the organization, very simple model to
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Speaker 2: carry a card either in a purse or in their pocket,
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Speaker 2: that they can bring and show you when you ask,
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Speaker 2: what's the model of this hotel? We are ladies and
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Speaker 2: gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. I call that a just motto.
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Speaker 2: How's that for ministry. I am a gentleman serving other gentlemen.
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Speaker 2: My wife and I are a lady and gentlemen serving
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Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen. We care about lifting the standard of
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Speaker 2: those we're around. This isn't a pious kind of thing.
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Speaker 2: This is a real thing. I'll say more about reality
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Speaker 2: in a few minutes. Just is treating others with respect.
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Speaker 2: The next word is pure, and you've got that one.
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Speaker 2: It means morally undefiled, maintaining a mind that is scrubbed clean,
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Speaker 2: disciplined enough to resist even the thought of sexual compromise,
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Speaker 2: having a mind that can stand up under the scrutiny
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Speaker 2: of God, deliberately resisting all sensual excursions. You are trusted
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Speaker 2: in this career. You will be given privacy that very
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Speaker 2: few careers will allow. In certain positions in the ministry,
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Speaker 2: you're really on your own, and if accountability is to happen,
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Speaker 2: it must be volunteered on your part. And I urge
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Speaker 2: that to help maintain this sense of purity. Because we
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Speaker 2: can so easily drift, and hormones being what they are,
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Speaker 2: and and physical beauty being what it is, there's a
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Speaker 2: great temptation to move into this realm mentally and before
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Speaker 2: long the image becomes actions that works its way out
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Speaker 2: into pornography on the Internet, as well as a secret,
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Speaker 2: secret life that's lived out only to be found out.
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Speaker 2: Believe me, if you get into that, you will be
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Speaker 2: found out, and the heartbreak is beyond description. For your family,
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Speaker 2: for your circle of friends, for your children who trusted you,
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Speaker 2: for your congregation who believed in you, for the husband
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Speaker 2: of the wife you mess around with, or vice versa,
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Speaker 2: and all the more reason to guard against whatever may
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Speaker 2: lead to compromise. And it is always appropriate. Always so.
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Speaker 2: I said this when I was a younger man, and
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Speaker 2: now that I'm older, I say it with the same,
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Speaker 2: if not more vibrant. Passion resists those sensual excursions. Stay
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Speaker 2: out of conversations that are sensual, don't get into them.
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Speaker 2: In counseling situations, stay away from it. And if it
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Speaker 2: is moving in that direction, that person needs to be
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Speaker 2: seeing someone else. We have a situation at our church
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Speaker 2: where we don't see anyone over a long period of time.
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Speaker 2: If it requires long term counseling, we refer them to
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Speaker 2: someone who is qualified and a reliable Christian counselor and
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Speaker 2: they go to see them. Every door has a large
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Speaker 2: open glass read a room can be seen into. I
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Speaker 2: don't spend time in my study with another woman. I
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Speaker 2: do not have another woman alone with me in my car.
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Speaker 2: I do not have dinner with another woman alone. I
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Speaker 2: do not spend time with another woman without my wife there.
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Speaker 2: And even on those cases it's rare, uh why not
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Speaker 2: only because I do not trust my own flesh, but
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Speaker 2: because the appearance of evil is so uh obvious, and
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Speaker 2: even when we don't think of it, it's there su purity,
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Speaker 2: there's no there's no wobble room there. These last two
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Speaker 2: words are what we call hopoxleagamenon. That means one time
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Speaker 2: only in all the Bible. And in this case, the
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Speaker 2: word here in our list is lovely. The Australians have
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Speaker 2: that word, always like it when I'm when I'm in
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Speaker 2: Australia and I hear these big hairy guys talk about
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Speaker 2: how lovely this man is. That is a great expression, uh.
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Speaker 2: And and there is nothing that feminine in it. There's
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Speaker 2: everything beautiful about it. It's these Ausies way of saying
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Speaker 2: the person is pleasant and winsome. It's it's a one
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Speaker 2: reliable author writes this. There are those whose minds are
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Speaker 2: so set on vengeance and punishment that they call forth
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Speaker 2: bitterness and fear in others. Others whose minds are so
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Speaker 2: set on criticism and rebuke, they call forth resentment in others.
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Speaker 2: But the minds set on things lovely, kindness, sympathy, forbearance
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Speaker 2: is a winsome individual. It's what I call one of
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Speaker 2: those magnetic qualities. When you have this loveliness about you,
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Speaker 2: people want to be with you. They're drawn to you.
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Speaker 2: There is a warmth and a rare sense of caring
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Speaker 2: about you that they want to be around. Whatever is lovely,
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Speaker 2: and finally, whatever is of good report. The term literally
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Speaker 2: means fair speaking. The Greek word can be broken into
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Speaker 2: fair speaking. The word attractive would be a good synonym.
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Speaker 2: Whatever is active appealing. This quality, by the way, makes
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Speaker 2: a good impression on others, and it's an impression that
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Speaker 2: is a true one. Finally, we get to one of
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Speaker 2: my favorite words, and it's the word gracious or grace filled.
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Speaker 2: I remember back with a great deal of gratitude to
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Speaker 2: individuals that were at the school when I was here.
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Speaker 2: I'll say more about that in just a minute, but
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Speaker 2: I do want to mention this man. His name was
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Speaker 2: Richard Sumi. Doctor Schumi was the chaplain here for a
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Speaker 2: while and came from a church in Richmond, Virginia, and
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Speaker 2: then was in a church in Wheaton, and then finally
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Speaker 2: came to our school at Dtor Walbird's invitation. Richard Sumi
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Speaker 2: with some kind of man, and the older faculty members
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Speaker 2: remember him. He uh. He carried himself. Uh in a
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Speaker 2: in a here's our word, lovely, in a in a
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Speaker 2: in a beautiful way. You just wanted to be near him,
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Speaker 2: he u. He. He had a a dysfunctioning kidney disease,
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Speaker 2: and so he was on dialysis. And when I would
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Speaker 2: visit with him in his office, every once in a while,
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Speaker 2: I'd see the cuff of his sleeve go up and
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Speaker 2: I'd see the loop that carried his blood right here
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Speaker 2: that they would plug into on the dialysis. And and
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Speaker 2: he said, chuck. Every once in a while, when I'm alone,
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Speaker 2: I can look down and I can see my life
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Speaker 2: passing right there in my blood. And he said, uh, I,
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Speaker 2: I am always grateful for the gift of life, and
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Speaker 2: I'll never take it for granted. You're going to pass
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Speaker 2: through this journey once. You'll never have the same birthday twice.
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Speaker 2: You'll never be in a meeting exactly like this with
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Speaker 2: exactly the same people. Again, this is a unique experience.
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Speaker 2: Being with Richard Sumy was a unique experience for me.
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Speaker 2: He was one of those men that I didn't idolize,
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Speaker 2: but I greatly respected. Never once let me down, never once,
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Speaker 2: though he lived with this disease. Paul says, now as
30:59
Speaker 2: he turns the corner, are the things you've learned and
31:03
Speaker 2: received and heard and seen in me practice? Having just
31:07
Speaker 2: listed six qualities, he now turns to the practical side
31:15
Speaker 2: and says, there are things that my life represents to
31:22
Speaker 2: you people of Philippi, and I want to urge you
31:27
Speaker 2: to practice them. That's quite a statement. It's not said
31:31
Speaker 2: in pride. I've come to the age in my life
31:40
Speaker 2: where I see things a lot more clearly than I
31:45
Speaker 2: used to when I was younger. I have Laurence Sanni
31:50
Speaker 2: not gone but for many years President Navigators, who said
31:55
Speaker 2: when he turned seventy, I remember asking him, is there
31:59
Speaker 2: anything different now? He said, yep, he said, I'm not
32:03
Speaker 2: afraid of anybody. I like that answer. I've reached that place.
32:11
Speaker 2: It's not that I don't respect an if I respect
32:13
Speaker 2: probably more than I ever have many people, but I'm
32:17
Speaker 2: not afraid of anyone. I'm not intimidated by anyone. You
32:21
Speaker 2: reach a place where your walk with the Lord is
32:25
Speaker 2: such that he's the one that is so magnificent. He's
32:31
Speaker 2: so significant that all other faces and reputations pale when
32:38
Speaker 2: compared to him and his greatness. So you can say,
32:42
Speaker 2: without any sense of pride, follow me as I'm following Christ.
32:52
Speaker 2: Sarah Teasdale, the poet, put it in these words. When
32:56
Speaker 2: I have ceased to break my wings against the faultiness
32:58
Speaker 2: of things, and learned that compromises weight behind each hardly
33:04
Speaker 2: opened gate, when I could look life in the eyes,
33:08
Speaker 2: grown calm and very coldly wise, life will have given
33:15
Speaker 2: me the truth and taken an exchange my youth. I'll
33:25
Speaker 2: be eighty four in October, so I've lived long enough
33:28
Speaker 2: to have made that exchange. I've exchanged my youth for truth.
33:38
Speaker 2: What a marvelous exchange. I wouldn't be younger if you
33:45
Speaker 2: could make it happen. I sometimes I look at myself
33:51
Speaker 2: in the full length miror, and I take that back.
33:53
Speaker 2: But there are other times. Besides the physical ugliness, there's
34:00
Speaker 2: something great about aging. I've been in Ministry since nineteen
34:08
Speaker 2: sixty three. If I include my years of Dallas Seminary,
34:15
Speaker 2: I would say since nineteen fifty nine. My math is right.
34:21
Speaker 2: That amounts to fifty nine years. Fifty nine years of
34:27
Speaker 2: learning and growing and changes and challenges and accomplishments and mistakes, disappointments,
34:41
Speaker 2: days of great pleasure and times of enormous pain, relationship
34:49
Speaker 2: with people that I just have been grateful for, and
34:56
Speaker 2: others that have been such a disappointment. I've been on
35:02
Speaker 2: a long learning curve, and I'm grateful that the lessons
35:07
Speaker 2: don't stop when you turn forty five or fifty seven
35:13
Speaker 2: or seventy four, or once you've had your last grandchild
35:23
Speaker 2: or you've preached your fifty fifth Easter sermon, as I
35:26
Speaker 2: did last Sunday. Lessons keep coming, and you keep realizing
35:34
Speaker 2: you didn't know that before. You wish you would have
35:38
Speaker 2: known that earlier. The Apostle Paul told his friends in Philippi,
35:44
Speaker 2: the things you've learned and received and heard and seen
35:47
Speaker 2: in me do even though I'm light years out of
35:51
Speaker 2: his league. There are some things I've learned and received
35:58
Speaker 2: and you're able to hear and see in me that
36:02
Speaker 2: you can do and perhaps in my style. Some of
36:11
Speaker 2: it comes across in a way that makes you want
36:14
Speaker 2: to be better or different. You don't want to be me,
36:21
Speaker 2: You want to be who you are with some of
36:23
Speaker 2: the qualities that I'm emphasizing and hopefully modeling. If I
36:30
Speaker 2: figure correctly, graduation is thirty six days away. Might as
36:35
Speaker 2: well cut to the chase. Huh. Some of you will
36:40
Speaker 2: be graduating, most of you won't. Others if you haven't
36:43
Speaker 2: even begun your journey. But when that day comes, you
36:49
Speaker 2: are going to be on your own. You'll no longer
36:54
Speaker 2: have the security of a faculty to turn to, or
36:58
Speaker 2: a library this well equipped. Your library will be your
37:03
Speaker 2: books and the books you've built into your library. Your
37:11
Speaker 2: future will be the future you build. You will face
37:18
Speaker 2: life's challenges without any crutches to fall back on. The
37:28
Speaker 2: comfort of an academic setting will be gone gone, and
37:37
Speaker 2: you'll be fully responsible for your own decisions, actions, and mistakes.
37:47
Speaker 2: That's when the things I'll be sharing will mean more
37:49
Speaker 2: to you. You think I'm wrapping it up, but I'm
37:54
Speaker 2: really I got another whole page, so sit tight. I
38:00
Speaker 2: want to click these off. I've shared these before in
38:04
Speaker 2: another setting, and you maybe were in that setting, so
38:08
Speaker 2: you may remember some of them. Maybe you weren't. I
38:11
Speaker 2: think most of you weren't, so I want to share
38:14
Speaker 2: with you, as I said, some things I've learned over
38:18
Speaker 2: the years. I won't dwell on them. I could tell
38:21
Speaker 2: a story about most about virtually every one of them,
38:24
Speaker 2: but I won't do that. But here are some practical
38:27
Speaker 2: things I've learned in my fifty nine years involved in ministry.
38:36
Speaker 2: There are fifteen of them. One I've learned I should
38:40
Speaker 2: tell people how I feel about them now, not later.
38:46
Speaker 2: Every time I bury somebody and it seems like they're
38:49
Speaker 2: younger every year, I wish I would have told them
38:54
Speaker 2: while they were alive how I really felt. So and
39:00
Speaker 2: Dad are still alive. Tell them now. If you've got
39:04
Speaker 2: a real good friend and you really do love that friend,
39:08
Speaker 2: tell him, tell her. If you got a great mate,
39:16
Speaker 2: let that mate know it. I've learned I should tell
39:20
Speaker 2: people how I feel about them now, not later. Second,
39:24
Speaker 2: I've learned that things I'm not even aware of in
39:26
Speaker 2: my life are being noticed and remembered. I've had that
39:34
Speaker 2: happen so many times I didn't even notice. I didn't
39:36
Speaker 2: even know people were noticing, And they'll later comment on
39:39
Speaker 2: it something they observed or they heard me say, or
39:44
Speaker 2: they watched me as I was doing it, whether it's
39:49
Speaker 2: at a restaurant I even know they were in and
39:51
Speaker 2: I was at the same restaurant, or I was with
39:54
Speaker 2: one of my children and they saw me in a
39:56
Speaker 2: relationship dealing with something that not even being watched. I've
40:02
Speaker 2: learned that things I'm not even aware of in my
40:05
Speaker 2: life are being noticed and remembered. Third, I've learned that
40:10
Speaker 2: being real is always better than trying to look or
40:13
Speaker 2: sound pious. I'm sorry, but it's seminary. You can learn
40:19
Speaker 2: to be a phony. You could pick it up and
40:22
Speaker 2: get real good at it, but it'll catch up with you.
40:27
Speaker 2: So I've learned that nothing touches people deeper than authenticity.
40:34
Speaker 2: Just be what you are. Number four, I've learned there's
40:37
Speaker 2: a huge difference between letting things flow and forcing them.
40:43
Speaker 2: I've learned that when the Lord is in it, there's
40:45
Speaker 2: a flow that's beautiful. When I'm driving it, there's force,
40:51
Speaker 2: and usually the result is a big regret. Five I've
40:57
Speaker 2: learned that it's unwise to talk someone in to or
41:00
Speaker 2: out of a big decision. You who are looking at
41:04
Speaker 2: the school have a big decision. Don't count on me
41:08
Speaker 2: to talk you into it or to try to talk
41:11
Speaker 2: you out of it. That's God's job. I used to
41:16
Speaker 2: be real good at that or real bad about that,
41:22
Speaker 2: and I've learned to back out and leave someone alone,
41:27
Speaker 2: let them wrestle through it. It's your decision, especially if
41:30
Speaker 2: it's a big decision. Talk nobody into marrying anybody. I
41:36
Speaker 2: will admit I have cautioned some about marrying some people
41:42
Speaker 2: and never regretted that. I've sometimes regretted not cautioning. That's
41:49
Speaker 2: another subject. Number six. I've learned that some people aren't
41:54
Speaker 2: going to change no matter what. They're just enrich to
41:59
Speaker 2: the bone, and they're going to be that way when
42:03
Speaker 2: you come to minister to them, and they'll be that
42:06
Speaker 2: way when you leave. They're not change it, and it's
42:10
Speaker 2: not your fault and it's not your responsibility. I've learned
42:14
Speaker 2: that too. I used to worry myself sick over people
42:18
Speaker 2: that wouldn't change, And now you'll notice the silence. Years ago,
42:31
Speaker 2: I would have said something, and I would have later regretted.
42:33
Speaker 2: Number seven. Here it is. I've learned that saying less
42:37
Speaker 2: is always better than saying too much. I've seldom felt
42:43
Speaker 2: sorry for things I did not say. Number eight. I've
42:49
Speaker 2: learned that perception overshadows reality. What people perceive is usually
42:56
Speaker 2: more powerful than what really is. And there are off
43:00
Speaker 2: and wrong happens in fake news all the time, it
43:07
Speaker 2: happens in public figures all the time. If our president
43:11
Speaker 2: could ever learn that, he'd be a lot better and
43:15
Speaker 2: relax a lot more. But he feels like he has
43:17
Speaker 2: to run every era and down when people say things
43:20
Speaker 2: against him. Come on, Donald, you're bigger than that. Number nine.
43:28
Speaker 2: I've learned that grace is worth the risk. By the way,
43:32
Speaker 2: especially with my children, I've learned that grace is worth
43:36
Speaker 2: the risk. Most of you are too hard on your kids.
43:40
Speaker 2: Take it from one who was. If I regret anything
43:43
Speaker 2: in my life, it said I wasn't as good a
43:46
Speaker 2: dad as I could have been and should have been.
43:50
Speaker 2: I was too busy, I was at times too demanding,
43:56
Speaker 2: and I was too rigid. So I tell you I've
44:01
Speaker 2: made up part with my grandkids. I mean, unless you're
44:09
Speaker 2: Charles Manson, grandkids think you're fabulous and just let it
44:15
Speaker 2: all out, and you know what, they turn out great
44:21
Speaker 2: and amazingly, so do your kids. Grace is worth the risk.
44:30
Speaker 2: Number ten, I've stopped. I've learned to stop saying always
44:34
Speaker 2: and never. When it comes to the future, I'll always
44:40
Speaker 2: do so, and so I'm never gonna do so. And
44:42
Speaker 2: every time I do that, I have to eat my words.
44:45
Speaker 2: So I'm not gonna use those words again. You know
44:49
Speaker 2: what I said. Soon out of seminary, three places I'm
44:52
Speaker 2: never gonna minister Texas, New England, California. Three places I
45:01
Speaker 2: administered in my life Texas, New England, California. So never
45:09
Speaker 2: say never and get rid of always. Number eleven. I've
45:14
Speaker 2: learned that I time spent with my family is always
45:18
Speaker 2: an excellent investment, never wasted time. Twelve, I've learned that
45:25
Speaker 2: days of maintenance are far more than days of magnificence.
45:34
Speaker 2: Just maintaining ministry. That's what most of it's about. I
45:40
Speaker 2: don't leave here to go back out to Frisco to
45:43
Speaker 2: step into a fantastic ministry. I go back to difficult
45:53
Speaker 2: situations and demands and responsibilities and a few things that
45:58
Speaker 2: seem to be kind of bright on the surface and hopeful.
46:02
Speaker 2: But it's maintaining the ministry. It's maintaining the budget, it's
46:09
Speaker 2: maintaining day in and day out, purity maintaining a relationship
46:15
Speaker 2: with my wife of sixty two years. It's maintaining. It's
46:20
Speaker 2: not magnificent. Some of it is, but that's the exception.
46:28
Speaker 2: Number thirteen. I've learned that forgiveness is essential if you're
46:35
Speaker 2: dragging of If you're dragging a grudge, get rid of
46:39
Speaker 2: it before you come to the school. Get rid of
46:44
Speaker 2: your grudge, get rid of your hatred, get rid of
46:51
Speaker 2: your resentment, get rid of it. If you need counseling,
46:55
Speaker 2: get counseling. If you need a year of it before
46:59
Speaker 2: you start here, get it. Because an unforgiving spirit will
47:04
Speaker 2: come out in a dozen different ways, all of them ugly.
47:09
Speaker 2: It's a great day incentives in my life when we decided,
47:12
Speaker 2: no matter what, we'd forgive, no matter what, no matter
47:17
Speaker 2: who did what or said what, We're gonna forgive them.
47:20
Speaker 2: And I can honestly say right now, I don't know
47:22
Speaker 2: of anyone I'm not yet forgiven. What a great way
47:25
Speaker 2: to live. It's like living out of debt. Whatever that's like,
47:30
Speaker 2: I can only imagine. But when you get out of debt,
47:33
Speaker 2: it's wonderful. Fourteen and one more, I've learned to give
47:40
Speaker 2: credit where credit is due. It's easy for the pastor
47:44
Speaker 2: to get the credit. People thank you for the brochure
47:48
Speaker 2: you had nothing to do with and you go, well,
47:50
Speaker 2: thank you, I'm glad you enjoy it. Yes, it is
47:54
Speaker 2: a nice brochure, isn't it. You lieing hound, You had
47:58
Speaker 2: nothing to do with that brochure. Oh how beautiful the music? Well,
48:03
Speaker 2: thank you, we worked on that along. We You can't
48:07
Speaker 2: even play the c scale you, dodo. Quit acting like
48:10
Speaker 2: you're the one that's running the music. Say Don McMahon
48:14
Speaker 2: gets a credit for the music because Don mcmahn is
48:16
Speaker 2: the one who runs it. Say the orchestra is the
48:19
Speaker 2: one that gets it because they're the ones that practice.
48:22
Speaker 2: The choir is the one that ought to be given
48:23
Speaker 2: things because they're the one that worked on that number
48:26
Speaker 2: week after week after week. God gets the glory. You're
48:31
Speaker 2: just as grateful as everybody helps, but you don't get
48:33
Speaker 2: the credit. I've learned, finally, stop trying to get the credit.
48:39
Speaker 2: I feel very comfortable saying that I really do. And
48:45
Speaker 2: when you do, it's amazing how at ease you can be.
48:50
Speaker 2: You don't worry because your name doesn't appear somewhere. Finally,
49:01
Speaker 2: I've learned that you can't beat having fun. How's that
49:05
Speaker 2: for spiritual ending? You can't beat having fun. When I
49:10
Speaker 2: came to the seminary, I showed up and everybody around
49:14
Speaker 2: me was so I said to my executive assistant, whom
49:23
Speaker 2: my leader got rid of, I had to stop thinking.
49:29
Speaker 2: She's still alive, and so I worked that through anyway.
49:33
Speaker 2: I said, where is the fun? She said to what?
49:38
Speaker 2: I said, the fun? Where's the laughter? She said, doctor Schwindle,
49:44
Speaker 2: this is a seminary. And I said to her, the
49:50
Speaker 2: question is still the same, where's the laughter? Where's the fun?
50:03
Speaker 2: I think the happiest people on earth are not the
50:05
Speaker 2: people at a bar. They're the people who are going
50:08
Speaker 2: to heaven. I don't think heaven is going to be
50:12
Speaker 2: filled with people like you know Jesus yea, he changed
50:24
Speaker 2: your light. Yeah, don't wait to have fun. I finally decided,
50:33
Speaker 2: even in the messages, I can have a little fun.
50:37
Speaker 2: Thanks to my wife, who said to me, you kind
50:40
Speaker 2: of kind of wear us out, and you're preaching, so
50:50
Speaker 2: blame her. If you don't like my humor, listen to
50:55
Speaker 2: this story. My brother in law opened the bottom drawer
51:02
Speaker 2: of my sister's bureau and lifted out a tissue wrap package.
51:07
Speaker 1: This.
51:08
Speaker 2: He said, this is not a slip, This is lingerie.
51:18
Speaker 2: He discarded the tissue and handed me the lovely slip.
51:23
Speaker 2: It was exquisite silk, handmade, trimmed with a cobweb of lace.
51:31
Speaker 2: Price tag was astronomical. The tag was still attached. Jan
51:42
Speaker 2: bought this the first time we went to New York,
51:44
Speaker 2: at least eight or nine years ago. I said, she
51:48
Speaker 2: never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well,
51:56
Speaker 2: I guess this is the occasion. He took the slip
52:01
Speaker 2: from me and put it on the bed with the
52:03
Speaker 2: other clothing we were taking to the mortuary. His hands
52:14
Speaker 2: lingered on the soft material for a moment. Then he
52:17
Speaker 2: slammed the drawer shut and turned to me, don't ever
52:21
Speaker 2: ever save anything for a special moment. Every day you're
52:31
Speaker 2: alive is a special moment. I remember those words through
52:38
Speaker 2: the funeral and the days that followed. When I helped
52:42
Speaker 2: him and my kniece attend to all the sad chores
52:45
Speaker 2: that follow an unexpected death. I thought about all the
52:52
Speaker 2: things that she had not seen or heard or done.
52:58
Speaker 2: I thought about the things that she had done without
53:00
Speaker 2: realizing how special they were. I'm still thinking about his
53:07
Speaker 2: words and They've changed my life. I'm reading more and
53:15
Speaker 2: dusting less. I'm now not saving anything we use. We
53:25
Speaker 2: now use our good china and crystal for every special event.
53:29
Speaker 2: That's just losing a pound getting the sink unstopped the
53:36
Speaker 2: first camellia blossom. I'm not saving my good perfume for
53:43
Speaker 2: special parties. Clerks and hardware stores and tellers and banks
53:49
Speaker 2: have noses that function as well as my party going
53:52
Speaker 2: friends someday and one of these days are losing their
53:58
Speaker 2: grip on my vocabulary. It's those little things left undone
54:05
Speaker 2: that would make me angry if I knew that my
54:08
Speaker 2: hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good
54:14
Speaker 2: friends whom I was going to get in touch with someday,
54:19
Speaker 2: because I hadn't written certain letters that I'd intended to write,
54:22
Speaker 2: and on and on egos. And every morning when I
54:27
Speaker 2: opened my eyes, I tell myself today, it's special, Isn't
54:35
Speaker 2: that good? I don't care how how many degrees you earned,
54:45
Speaker 2: that's fine, that's good. I care about how many days
54:54
Speaker 2: you find fulfillment and enthusiasm and excitement in life. If
55:01
Speaker 2: it's ministry, live it out. Who knows it may be
55:10
Speaker 2: your last day in our lives. Lord, I pray that
55:19
Speaker 2: you'll be glorified in the way we live, the way
55:26
Speaker 2: we think, the way we respond, the way we treat people,
55:34
Speaker 2: the way we handle pressure, the way we deal with
55:42
Speaker 2: the things you send our way to test us. Be glorified.
55:51
Speaker 2: And whatever is true and honest and just and pure
55:55
Speaker 2: and lovely and of good report, help us to focus
56:01
Speaker 2: on those things. In the name of Jesus. Everybody said Amen.
56:15
Speaker 2: The preceding message focus on these Things was copyrighted in
56:19
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen, and the sound recording was
56:22
Speaker 2: copyrighted in twenty nineteen by Charles Rswindall, Inc. All rights
56:27
Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
56:32
Speaker 2: is strictly prohibited.