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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – When Your Comfort Zone G... 2 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Nobody writes poems celebrating pain. We run from our afflictions,
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  Speaker 1: we resent our hardships, and we secretly wonder if suffering
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  Speaker 1: was God's one mistake. But what if pain isn't a
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  Speaker 1: divine error? What if it's actually essential?
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  Speaker 2: Today?
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  Speaker 1: On Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl reveals why suffering is
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  Speaker 1: both inevitable and necessary in the Christian life. As we
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  Speaker 1: look at first Thessalonians three, we'll discover how God uses
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  Speaker 1: affliction as his megaphone to speak truth that we'd never hear.
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  Speaker 1: In times of comfort, Chuck title today's message when your
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  Speaker 1: comfort zone gets the squeeze.
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  Speaker 2: Try to imagine stacking up all the poems and essays
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  Speaker 2: ever written about the wonders of romantic love with that
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  Speaker 2: pile reach. Would it be as tall as well the
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  Speaker 2: Empire State building? Would it be as high as Mount Everest? Now?
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  Speaker 2: Then add to that stack the works on valor and
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  Speaker 2: patriotism and family? Oh my, who can count them all?
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  Speaker 2: But look around for a flowing lyric on the topic
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  Speaker 2: of pain. Another story, isn't it? You won't find many,
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  Speaker 2: no not about pain. One writer acknowledges that he writes,
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  Speaker 2: I have never read a poem extolling the virtues of pain,
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  Speaker 2: nor seen a statue erected in its honor, nor heard
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  Speaker 2: a hymn dedicated to it. Pain is usually defined as unpleasantness,
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  Speaker 2: he continues, Christians don't really know how to interpret pain.
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  Speaker 2: If you pin them against the wall in a dark
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  Speaker 2: seat moment, many Christians would probably admit that pain was
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  Speaker 2: God's one mistake. He really should have worked a little
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  Speaker 2: harder and invented a better way of coping with the
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  Speaker 2: world's dangers. He's right. Pain and its companions, afflictions, suffering, hardship,
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  Speaker 2: and adversity are often seen as the invading enemies of life.
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  Speaker 2: Whenever we spy one of those coming at us, we
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  Speaker 2: tend to turn and run. We usually think life should
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  Speaker 2: be fair and straightforward. So when our comfort zones get
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  Speaker 2: the squeeze, truth be told, we feel angry. And yet,
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  Speaker 2: according to the Bible, pain is a valid It's a
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  Speaker 2: necessary part of life, and although we may not like it,
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  Speaker 2: we can learn to live with it and learn lessons
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  Speaker 2: from it. There's a tension involved in trying to accept
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  Speaker 2: the pain that God allows, while at the same time
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  Speaker 2: fighting to overcome it. But like the Thessalonians, we can
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  Speaker 2: find real help in our struggle when we learn to
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  Speaker 2: see pain from God's perspective. His word reveals that suffering
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  Speaker 2: is both inevitable and essential. For today's study, let's turn
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  Speaker 2: to that subject and First Thessalonians chapter three. I'll be
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  Speaker 2: reading for you Verses one through eight of the third
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  Speaker 2: chapter of First Thessalonians, where Paul writes, Therefore, when we
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  Speaker 2: could endure it no longer, we thought it best to
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  Speaker 2: be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy,
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  Speaker 2: our brother and God's fellow worker in the Gospel of Christ,
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  Speaker 2: to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so
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  Speaker 2: that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions. For
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  Speaker 2: you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.
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  Speaker 2: For indeed, when we were with you, we kept telling
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  Speaker 2: you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction,
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  Speaker 2: and so it came to pass, as you know, for
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  Speaker 2: this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I
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  Speaker 2: also sent to find out about your faith, for fear
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  Speaker 2: that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor
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  Speaker 2: would be in vain. But now that Timothy has come
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  Speaker 2: to us from you and has brought us good news,
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  Speaker 2: of your faith and love, and that you always think
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  Speaker 2: kindly of us, longing to see us, just as we
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  Speaker 2: also longed to see you. For this reason, Brethren, in
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  Speaker 2: all our distress and affliction, we were comforted about you
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  Speaker 2: through your faith. For now we really live. If you
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  Speaker 2: stand firm in.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord, you're listening to Insight for living to dig
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  Speaker 1: deeper into First Thessalonians on your own, be sure to
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  Speaker 1: purchase our Searching the Scripture's Bible Study workbook by going
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  Speaker 1: to insight dot org slash offer Chuck title today's message
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  Speaker 1: when your comfort zone gets the squeeze.
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  Speaker 2: Physician Scott Peck calls it the road less traveled. Scholar C. S.
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  Speaker 2: Lewis refers to it as God's megaphone. A contemporary author
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  Speaker 2: says that it is the gift nobody wants. English poet
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  Speaker 2: Byron referred to it as the path to truth. But
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  Speaker 2: no one ever said it better than Isaac Watts, the
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  Speaker 2: hymn writer, as he asked direct and searching questions. Am
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  Speaker 2: I a soldier of the Cross? Am I a follower
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  Speaker 2: of the Lamb? And again, must I be carried to
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  Speaker 2: the skies on flowery beds of ease? While others fought
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  Speaker 2: to win the prize and sailed through bloody sees. I'm
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  Speaker 2: referring to pain. It's in pain that God speaks to
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  Speaker 2: us through his megaphone. Suffering is the road less traveled.
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  Speaker 2: Affliction is the path to truth. Hardship and adversity. These
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  Speaker 2: are the gifts nobody wants, but everybody needs, and just
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  Speaker 2: the presence of these things in our lives creates attention.
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  Speaker 2: For example, you attend your physicians presence and he takes
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  Speaker 2: your X ray and a few days later contacts you
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  Speaker 2: and says we'll need to do a biopsy. And then
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  Speaker 2: after the biopsy, he immediately calls and asks for you
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  Speaker 2: to come and he faces you with that horrible piece
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  Speaker 2: of information. You have cancer. There's no getting around it.
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  Speaker 2: The tension comes. Part of you says, I will accept this.
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  Speaker 2: There is no such thing as a mistake in the
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  Speaker 2: life of the child of God. This is a road
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  Speaker 2: less traveled, and I want to travel it carefully and well,
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  Speaker 2: and I want to learn from this affliction what God
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  Speaker 2: is saying to me. But a part of you, in
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  Speaker 2: that tension says, I will fight this to the end
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  Speaker 2: because I am a survivor and because I believe there
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  Speaker 2: may well be a cure around the corner. And I
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  Speaker 2: will not succumb. I resist this thing. I will not
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  Speaker 2: lie down in my bed and give up hope and
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  Speaker 2: die in early death. So the tension between acceptance and
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  Speaker 2: resistance comes upon us, and we fight between a God
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  Speaker 2: of sovereign control and a God of gracious mercy. Don't we?
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  Speaker 2: Every time I unwrap the gift of pain, however, I
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  Speaker 2: learned something. If I don't hurry the unwrapping, I even
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  Speaker 2: learn more, don't you? You bet we do? And this
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  Speaker 2: causes me to realize, even before we plunge into a
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  Speaker 2: few verses out of first Thessalonians three, that there's reason
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  Speaker 2: to blow the dust off some very clear truths from
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  Speaker 2: the New Testament. And I have in mind, for example,
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  Speaker 2: Philippians chapter one. If you have your Bible, look with me,
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  Speaker 2: and we're going to see that suffering is inevitable. There's
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  Speaker 2: no getting around it. It is inevitable. You will not
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  Speaker 2: escape it, nor will your children, nor have your parents.
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  Speaker 2: Suffering is inevitable. It may be a road less traveled,
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  Speaker 2: but it is a road traveled by all. It's a painful,
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  Speaker 2: albeit inevitable path. Philippians one, twenty seven. Only conduct yourselves
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  Speaker 2: in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so
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  Speaker 2: that whether I come and see you or remain absent,
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  Speaker 2: I may hear of you that you are standing firm
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  Speaker 2: in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the
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  Speaker 2: faith of the Gospel. Note the word striving, in no
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  Speaker 2: way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of
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  Speaker 2: destruction for them, but of salvation for you. And that
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  Speaker 2: too from God for to you. Note now to you,
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  Speaker 2: it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to
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  Speaker 2: believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.
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  Speaker 2: If you've never marked a verse of Scripture before, in
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  Speaker 2: all your life, mark that one. You'll need it. You'll
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  Speaker 2: turn to it again and again before your life is over.
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  Speaker 2: There are some today who are emissaries of false doctrine,
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  Speaker 2: who say all suffering is wrong, all suffering is out
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  Speaker 2: of the will of God. If you suffer, you are
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  Speaker 2: in sin. And since you are in sin, if you
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  Speaker 2: will deal sufficiently with your sin, your suffering will end.
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  Speaker 2: That is a lie. Stop believing it, stop listening to it.
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  Speaker 2: It is not founded on scripture. To be sure, all
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  Speaker 2: suffering has its root in the fact that sin has
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  Speaker 2: entered the human race. But it has been granted not
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  Speaker 2: only that we believe in Him, but it has also
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  Speaker 2: been granted that we suffer. It's part of the life.
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  Speaker 2: Turn from Philippians one to Second Corinthians, Chapter four. Second
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  Speaker 2: Corinthians four will start our reading at verse seven. But
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  Speaker 2: we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing
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  Speaker 2: greatness of the power may be of God and not
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  Speaker 2: from ourselves. He continues, We are afflicted, mark that afflicted
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  Speaker 2: in every way, but not Christ perplexed, mark that perplexed,
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  Speaker 2: but not despairing. Here's another one to mark persecuted but
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  Speaker 2: not forsaken, and another struck down but not destroyed. The
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  Speaker 2: next word is the most important of the list allways.
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  Speaker 2: There it is again, it is inevitable, always carrying about
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  Speaker 2: in the body the death marks of Jesus, the dying,
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  Speaker 2: that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
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  Speaker 2: That's one of the mysteries of God. By bearing up
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  Speaker 2: under the death like lifestyle, you enter into the life
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  Speaker 2: style of Christ. Real living, says in verse sixteen. We
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  Speaker 2: do not lose heart. Though our outer man is decaying,
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  Speaker 2: our inner man is being renewed day by day, again decaying,
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  Speaker 2: we are being renewed. There's one more, and it is
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  Speaker 2: worth our turning first Peter chapter four, toward the end
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  Speaker 2: of the New Testament, locate verse twelve. There are many
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  Speaker 2: who see suffering as unusual. Philippians one twenty nine says
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  Speaker 2: we're called to it. Some see it is rare. Two
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  Speaker 2: Corinthians four says we are frequently knocked down. Some say
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  Speaker 2: it is strange, surprising that a child of God would
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  Speaker 2: suffer one Peter four twelve. Beloved, do not be surprised
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  Speaker 2: at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you
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  Speaker 2: for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening
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  Speaker 2: to you. But to the degree that you share the
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  Speaker 2: sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at
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  Speaker 2: the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
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  Speaker 2: If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you
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  Speaker 2: are blessed. Now look at that Christian. Are you right
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  Speaker 2: now being reviled? Are you right now under attack as
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  Speaker 2: a soldier of the cross? Rejoice. It's part of the package.
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  Speaker 2: It is essential, it is inevitable. You are blessed because
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  Speaker 2: the spirit of Glory and of God rests upon you.
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  Speaker 2: By no means means let any of you suffer as
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  Speaker 2: a murderer or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler.
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  Speaker 2: But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not
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  Speaker 2: feel ashamed. But in that name, let him glorify God.
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  Speaker 2: Now that's one side of the coin. It is inevitable,
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  Speaker 2: and we could multiply these by several dozen. Believe me,
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  Speaker 2: the scriptures are interwoven with a network of truth regarding suffering.
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  Speaker 2: It's part of the life. There's another side of it,
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  Speaker 2: and that's the part that says it's essential. Over in
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  Speaker 2: the Book of Psalms, in the longest of the Psalter,
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  Speaker 2: number one hundred and nineteen, there are three verses separated
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  Speaker 2: from one another but connected with the same thought Psalm one,
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  Speaker 2: nineteen sixty seven, seventy one and seventy five. Suffering is
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  Speaker 2: not only inevitable, the pain that it brings is essential.
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  Speaker 2: But this is the part that we don't like. We
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  Speaker 2: want our comfort, we want our comfort zone, but God
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  Speaker 2: invades it Psawm one, nineteen sixty seven. Before I was afflicted,
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  Speaker 2: I went astray. But now I keep thy word reminds
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  Speaker 2: me of how you must train a little dog. And
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  Speaker 2: if you have one, you know what I mean. No
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  Speaker 2: one has ever trained a little lovely pet without pain.
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  Speaker 2: It's just part of it. And you, of all things,
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  Speaker 2: find yourself with this little life, having to inflict pain
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  Speaker 2: for what reason? To train it, to teach it, to
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  Speaker 2: do what is best, To show it what you will
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  Speaker 2: smile upon and what you will frown upon, so that
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  Speaker 2: this little creature learns to bring pleasure to its master.
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  Speaker 2: Nothing is worse than being around an untrained pet. There
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  Speaker 2: is something worse. An untrained child is worse than an
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  Speaker 2: untrained pet, and they go together on occasion. That whole
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  Speaker 2: idea of affliction for the purpose of training. Now look
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  Speaker 2: at verse seventy one. It's good for me, says the psalmist.
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  Speaker 2: It is good for me that I was afflicted, that
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  Speaker 2: I may learn thy statues. I had a man tell
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  Speaker 2: me just about a week and a half ago. God
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  Speaker 2: never had my attention until he laid me on my back,
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  Speaker 2: and did I listen. This is one strong, will stubborn
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  Speaker 2: man who said that, And he was fighting back to tears.
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  Speaker 2: And he's only been in this crucible about twelve fifteen days.
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  Speaker 2: It was good, good for me that I got cut
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  Speaker 2: down the size. Then I learned. I learned through his megaphone.
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  Speaker 2: I learned in that path to truth. I discovered things.
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  Speaker 2: One more seventy five, same chapter. I know, O Lord,
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  Speaker 2: that thy judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness thou
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  Speaker 2: hast afflicted me. Aw Toezer said it in a way
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  Speaker 2: that few people have said it better. It is doubtful
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  Speaker 2: God can use anyone greatly until he has hurt him deeply.
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  Speaker 2: You will not find my using the word easy in
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  Speaker 2: this talk. It isn't easy, It isn't comfortable. It is
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  Speaker 2: uncomfortable on purpose. It must be. Now, if you are
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  Speaker 2: familiar with your Bible, you won't have trouble locating Ecclesiastes seven.
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  Speaker 2: If you are not familiar, it is a couple of
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  Speaker 2: books beyond Psalms, Psalms, Proverbs Ecclesiastes, chapter seven. Just one
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  Speaker 2: more passage on the essential nature of pain, Chapter seven, Ecclesiastes,
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  Speaker 2: verses thirteen and fourteen. Consider the work of God. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I want to meditate orally on this passage, and just
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  Speaker 2: have you do that with me. Let's have an understanding
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  Speaker 2: that for the next few moments, we're going to just
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  Speaker 2: sort of let this passage wash around in our minds.
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  Speaker 2: Ecclesiastes seven thirteen. Consider the work of God, for who
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  Speaker 2: is able to straighten what he has bent. In the
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  Speaker 2: days of prosperity, be happy. But in the day of adversity, sider.
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  Speaker 2: Consider before reading any further study it. The term in
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  Speaker 2: the Hebrew means to inspect. It was used in Exodus three,
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  Speaker 2: verse four for Moses, when the bush began to burn,
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  Speaker 2: He said, I will now turn aside and consider why
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  Speaker 2: the bush is not consumed. I will make an investigation.
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  Speaker 2: It carries the idea of perceiving, and when it is
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  Speaker 2: used of oneself, the idea of revealing to oneself the truth.
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  Speaker 2: It's the thought of examining for the purpose of evaluating.
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  Speaker 2: It's what you do businessmen and women, when you hire
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  Speaker 2: a consultant. The consultant comes into your firm, and the
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  Speaker 2: consultant has the right to ask them most pointed and
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  Speaker 2: it may seem at times vicious questions. As he or
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  Speaker 2: she goes to the heart of your company to see
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  Speaker 2: what is there. You pay good money for that investigation.
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  Speaker 2: Now this is a self consulting experience. Translated consider let's
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  Speaker 2: go back, consider the work of God. For who is
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  Speaker 2: able to straighten what God has bent. In the day
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  Speaker 2: of prosperity, be happy, But in a day of adversity, inspect, examine,
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  Speaker 2: gain some objective instruction, Slow down and listen. God has
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  Speaker 2: made the one as well as the others, so that
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  Speaker 2: we may not discover anything that will be after us. Now,
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  Speaker 2: in all of the examination, you will not find anything
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  Speaker 2: about the future, but you will sure learn about the past.
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  Speaker 2: You will really see yourself. And I say again it
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  Speaker 2: takes pain to see yourself as you really are. Carlisle,
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  Speaker 2: the Scottish essayist, was right. Adversity is hard on a man.
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  Speaker 2: But for one who can handle prosperity, there are one
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  Speaker 2: hundred who can handle adversity. For some of you, it's
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  Speaker 2: in a time of prosperity that the real test has come.
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  Speaker 2: Pain will come in prosperous times just as in adverse times.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe it was in such prosperous times that the Thessalonians
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  Speaker 2: were set back on their heels first Thessalonians Chapter three. Now,
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  Speaker 2: all of that is just preliminary that we've been looking at.
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  Speaker 2: So it's on the basis of that foundation we want
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  Speaker 2: to build some thoughts from this example of suffering in
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  Speaker 2: the Macedonian Church at Thesalonika. First of all, I find
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  Speaker 2: in this section of scripture a concern for these people
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  Speaker 2: on the part of Paul, who was the founding pastor,
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  Speaker 2: the apostle, the one who originally led them to faith.
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  Speaker 2: He was the human agent. But now he, as you
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  Speaker 2: may remember, has been pulled away from them. He calls
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  Speaker 2: it orphaned. He is bereft of them, it says in
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  Speaker 2: the latter part of chapter two, out of persecution, because
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  Speaker 2: of affliction. It was clear that he could no longer
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  Speaker 2: stay in Thessalonika, And before he was ready, he was
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  Speaker 2: uprooted and pushed on his way, and he wondered how
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  Speaker 2: they were doing in the storm that he left in
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  Speaker 2: his wake. And he had been wondering about it for
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  Speaker 2: over a year. He says so in chapter three, in
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  Speaker 2: verse one, when we could endure it no longer, we
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  Speaker 2: thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone,
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  Speaker 2: and we sent Timothy to find out how you're doing.
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  Speaker 2: We sent Timothy, our brother. See the relational concern, God's
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  Speaker 2: fellow worker in the Gospel of Christ. We sent Timothy
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  Speaker 2: because we didn't know how you were doing in the storm.
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  Speaker 2: Take a close look at verse two, the latter part
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  Speaker 2: of it. He sent Timothy for two reasons, number one
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  Speaker 2: to strengthen and number two to encourage them as to
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  Speaker 2: their faith. And that's important. Let's take those two terms.
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  Speaker 2: The word strengthen means to shore up or to buttress,
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  Speaker 2: an old word we don't use today. To buttress, one
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  Speaker 2: man says, it's to put a ramrod down one's back
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  Speaker 2: to enable him to stand straight and erect. Come what
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  Speaker 2: may pretty good word picture. I sent Timothy to put
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  Speaker 2: a ramrod in your back so that you wouldn't shuffle
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  Speaker 2: around as though you were being mistreated, but you'd stand straight,
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  Speaker 2: You'd stand erect like a steer in a blizzard. You'd
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  Speaker 2: refuse to bend against all odds. I sent him to
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  Speaker 2: add strength to you. Paul says, you needed somebody alongside
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  Speaker 2: to buttress you, to help you keep from surrendering. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the second word is a comforting word, para coal. We
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  Speaker 2: get the word paraplet from it. It's often translated comfort
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  Speaker 2: in the New Testament, but here it is rendered in courage.
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  Speaker 2: It is the idea of standing alongside another person to
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  Speaker 2: put courage into them. There's not a lecture in it,
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  Speaker 2: there's modeling in it. There isn't a put down in
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  Speaker 2: the word. There is an arm of reassurance in it.
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  Speaker 1: When we're under pressure and coming to the end of ourselves,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: nothing is more important than learning how to apply God's word.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Chux Mondaul title today's message when your comfort zone gets
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the squeeze, and there's much more he wants to show
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  Speaker 1: us in Paul's first Letter to the Thessalonians. To dig
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: deeper into Paul's letter on your own, we invite you
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: to check out the variety of helpful study tools we
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  Speaker 1: have for you at Insight for Living. We recommend starting
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  Speaker 1: with the Searching the Scripture's Bible Study workbook for this series.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: It's ideal for personal reflection as you apply the same
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Bible study methods that Chucks Wendall uses. In addition, you
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: can listen to the complete collection of twelve sermons in
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: this series. It's called Contagious Christianity. Check out the audio
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: files or use our convenient mobile app where listening to
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Chuck's full length messages is free. And then. One of
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  Speaker 1: the most popular books in Chuck's collection is an ideal
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  Speaker 1: compliment to our current TA teaching series. It's a book
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: called Laugh Again. Experience Outrageous Joy. You know some of
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: us haven't laughed in a long long time. How about you?
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  Speaker 1: When was the last time you threw back your head
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  Speaker 1: and roared with laughter?
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 1: In his book Laugh Again, Chuck explores Paul's secret to
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  Speaker 1: outrageous joy. Paul's letter to the Philippians was written from
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  Speaker 1: a prison cell, and if Paul could find joy while
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: bound in chains, imagine what God wants to do in
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  Speaker 1: your life. You can request a copy of Laugh Again
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• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Slash offer him. Bill Meyer Chuckswindahl describes what to do
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: when your comfort zone gets the squeeze Thursday on Insight
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  Speaker 1: for Living. The preceding message when your Comfort Zone Gets
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  Speaker 1: the Squeeze was copyrighted in nineteen eighty four, nineteen eighty five,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three, two thousand and three, twenty twenty four
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  Speaker 1: and twenty twenty six, and the sound recording was copyrighted
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six by Charles R. Swindahul Incorporated. All
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
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