Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / What Does It Mean to “Really Live” │ Msg 512 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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What Does It Mean to “Really Live” │ Msg 512 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: What does it mean to really live? Well, some people
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  Speaker 1: say it takes money to really live, because money can
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  Speaker 1: buy the good life. But since when is the good
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  Speaker 1: life the same as the real life? Others would say,
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  Speaker 1: real living belongs to the vibrant young. So smoothing out
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  Speaker 1: our wrinkles and tucking in our tummies and combing our
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  Speaker 1: hair over our ball spot, we do what we can
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  Speaker 1: to stay young and not fall behind in the fast
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  Speaker 1: lane of youth. Right, But since when is the fast
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  Speaker 1: life the same as the real life? I can hear
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  Speaker 1: a few say, listen, a life of comfort and ease,
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  Speaker 1: swinging in the old hammock out back and sipping a cool,
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  Speaker 1: tall glass of lemonade under a shade tree, Now that
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  Speaker 1: is living. Yet do we really think a sleepy, pampered
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  Speaker 1: life and a hammock is the real life? How about
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  Speaker 1: the educated life? Is that the real life? Or the
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  Speaker 1: productive or the organized life? Do any of those pursuits
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  Speaker 1: define what it means to really live? If we ask
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  Speaker 1: God that question, I'm honest here, I think it'd probably
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  Speaker 1: shake his head. No, none of that constitutes real living. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: humanity rarely turns to him for his thoughts on the matter.
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  Speaker 1: Even though he is our maker. But turning to our
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  Speaker 1: Maker's word is what I want us to do today.
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  Speaker 1: So please, if you have a Bible handy, locate First
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  Speaker 1: Thessalonians chapter three. I want you to listen as I
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  Speaker 1: read for you the last six verses of First Thessalonians three,
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  Speaker 1: beginning at verse eight. For now we really live if
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  Speaker 1: you stand firm in the Lord. For what things can
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  Speaker 1: we render to God for you in return for all
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  Speaker 1: the joy with which we rejoice before our God on
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  Speaker 1: your account? As we night and day, keep praying most
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  Speaker 1: earnestly that we may see your face and may complete
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  Speaker 1: what is lacking in your faith. Now, may our God
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  Speaker 1: and Father himself and Jesus our Lord, direct our way
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  Speaker 1: to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase
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  Speaker 1: and abound in love for one another and for all people,
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  Speaker 1: just as we also do for you, so that He
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  Speaker 1: may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our
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  Speaker 1: God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 1: with all his saints. What does it mean to really live?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, what does it take? Well, many would say
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  Speaker 1: it takes money. If you want to have the good life,
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  Speaker 1: you need a lot of money. At age sixty nine,
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  Speaker 1: Sophie Tucker said, from birth to eighteen, a girl needs
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  Speaker 1: good parents. From eighteen to thirty five, she needs good looks.
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  Speaker 1: From thirty five to fifty five, she needs a good personality.
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  Speaker 1: From fifty five on, she needs cash. If you want
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy the good life, you got to have cash.
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  Speaker 1: You got to have the bucks. But since when is
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  Speaker 1: the good life the real life? Since when is having
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  Speaker 1: a lot of money really living? Just as many would
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  Speaker 1: say when asked the question, what does it take to
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  Speaker 1: really live? Just as many who would say money, he
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  Speaker 1: would probably say youth. It takes youth. If you plan
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  Speaker 1: to keep up in this day and age of speed
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  Speaker 1: and change and innovation, you have to stay young. You
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  Speaker 1: have to look young, You have to be young. The
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  Speaker 1: world is leaving behind those that are getting older. Far
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  Speaker 1: too many could have written on their tombstone, died at
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  Speaker 1: thirty one, buried at seventy three. Far too many people
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  Speaker 1: die before they're buried. You've got to stay alert, you've
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  Speaker 1: got to stay alive. You've got to be young. But
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  Speaker 1: who's to say that the fast life is the real life.
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  Speaker 1: Who's to say that being young provides real living? I
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  Speaker 1: know a seventeen year old youngster who wouldn't say that.
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  Speaker 1: A junior in high school wrote Anne Landers this letter.
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  Speaker 1: I don't care what you do with this letter, don't.
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  Speaker 1: You don't even have to read it if you don't
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  Speaker 1: want to, but I have to write it. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of people wonder why anyone my age would want to
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  Speaker 1: commit suicide. Most of us have a decent life, and
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  Speaker 1: it seemed like a crazy thing to do. But it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't seem so crazy to me. I'm a guy who
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  Speaker 1: wishes he didn't have to get up every morning and
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  Speaker 1: face the day. I'm empty, useless, and tired of struggling.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm in everybody's way, and I don't
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  Speaker 1: think anybody would give up. I'll say rip if I
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  Speaker 1: disappeared from the face of the earth. I have no
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  Speaker 1: idea why I was born, and I don't fit in
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  Speaker 1: any place. I know you can't do anything about all this,
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  Speaker 1: but I wanted to explain it to somebody. I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to explain what goes through a person's mind before he
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  Speaker 1: pulls the trigger or swallows one too many pills. Signed
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  Speaker 1: a non person. No, it's not the answer. The answer
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  Speaker 1: isn't to be young. If you want the real life,
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  Speaker 1: just as many who would say money or youth would
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  Speaker 1: say comfort. I want it easy. That's the real life.
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  Speaker 1: I remember, and I smile when I say that. I
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  Speaker 1: remember our oldest daughter when we would go camping, when
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  Speaker 1: she was very, very small. She could hardly wait for
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  Speaker 1: us to get the tent up and everything in place
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  Speaker 1: so that I could hang the hammock and I would
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  Speaker 1: wrap her in a big, warm blanket, and then I
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  Speaker 1: would place her in this hammock and she'd snuggle up
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  Speaker 1: and put her index finger in her mouth. I know
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  Speaker 1: she'll be thrilled to have me announce to the world
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  Speaker 1: that she sucked her index finger, never her thumb. And
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  Speaker 1: then she would mouth out the side of her mouth
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  Speaker 1: to me, Daddy, this is living. I'd push her in
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  Speaker 1: the hammock and she'd be wrapped up in the blanket
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  Speaker 1: with her little finger in her mouth. But who's to
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  Speaker 1: say the comforting life or the comfortable life is the
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  Speaker 1: real life. I mean, you could name a half dozen
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  Speaker 1: other things. Some would say education, the educated life, Now
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  Speaker 1: that's real living. You and I know a lot of
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  Speaker 1: educated people who aren't really living. Some would say it
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  Speaker 1: takes a job, a job that satisfies and a job
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  Speaker 1: that makes you productive. Who's to say the productive life
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  Speaker 1: is the real life. I know a lot of productive
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  Speaker 1: people who are burning the candle on both ends, and
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  Speaker 1: they're not very fulfilled. There are some who would say,
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  Speaker 1: what it takes as goals and objectives? You get those
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  Speaker 1: in place, like ducks in a row, you can make tracks.
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  Speaker 1: Who's to say the organized life is the real life?
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  Speaker 1: What does it take to really live? Now? I find
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  Speaker 1: it nothing short of remarkable that so few people ask
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  Speaker 1: God that question, Honest to goodness, the one who holds
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  Speaker 1: the patent on our bodies, the one who made us
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  Speaker 1: with our personality, the one who put life together as
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  Speaker 1: we know it today, he's seldom counseled on that. And
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  Speaker 1: you know the result. We substitute left to ourselves. We
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  Speaker 1: don't ask for help. We substitute the artificial for the authentic. Now,
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  Speaker 1: that's not my idea. Solomon was the first to write
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  Speaker 1: about it over in the journal that he kept named Ecclesiastes.
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  Speaker 1: Will you turn to chapter seven and the last verse
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  Speaker 1: of Ecclesiastes seven if you're not familiar with your Bible,
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  Speaker 1: it's just beyond Psalms and the book of proverbs. Tucked
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  Speaker 1: in there is the Journal of Solomon, and in it
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  Speaker 1: he makes a comment about how we tend to substitute.
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  Speaker 1: And then in a moment, I want to give you
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  Speaker 1: a couple or three substitutions we invariably make in life.
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  Speaker 1: They are called here devices devices. Look at eccles Astes
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  Speaker 1: seven nine. Behold. When you read that in scripture, it's
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  Speaker 1: another way of saying, listen up or attention everybody. Behold.
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  Speaker 1: I have found only this, that God has made man upright,
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  Speaker 1: nothing wrong with that. But those who who are made
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  Speaker 1: upright have sought out many devices. The Living Bible says,
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  Speaker 1: though God has made men upright, each has turned away
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  Speaker 1: to follow his own downward road. The Good News Bible reads,
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  Speaker 1: God made us plain and simple, but we have made
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  Speaker 1: ourselves very complicated. The New International Version. If you carry that,
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  Speaker 1: you read God made mankind upright, but men have gone
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  Speaker 1: in search of many schemes. The reason those paraphrases and
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  Speaker 1: versions read like that is because of the use of
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  Speaker 1: the term kashav, which means to invent translated devices in
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  Speaker 1: noun form inventions devices. It's used for example of creating
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  Speaker 1: instruments of music. In scripture, it's used in the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament for creating works of art. It's used for making
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  Speaker 1: implements of warfare. Usaijah was one king who devised implements
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  Speaker 1: of warfare and implemented them during his reign, and they
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  Speaker 1: were effective. He invented them. Nothing wrong with works of art,
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  Speaker 1: instruments of music, or implements of warfare to defend the nation.
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  Speaker 1: But the root term translated to invent is really the
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  Speaker 1: term to think. To think, to think through a plan,
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  Speaker 1: to arrange clever and imaginative ideas. God has made men upright,
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  Speaker 1: but they have thought through a plan that's creative, clever,
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  Speaker 1: and when you carry that plan to the ultimate end,
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  Speaker 1: you wind up with substitutes. Let me give you three. Mentally,
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  Speaker 1: we substitute knowledge for wisdom. You will not get wisdom
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  Speaker 1: from the schools today. You will get knowledge. Schools cannot
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  Speaker 1: teach wisdom. It's a gift from God. But we are
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  Speaker 1: very impressed with knowledge. We are impressed with human scholarship,
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  Speaker 1: much more so than with divine understanding. If you don't
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  Speaker 1: think so, you try to get an interview with the
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  Speaker 1: media and talk about divine wisdom and see if that
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  Speaker 1: gets into print. We are far more impressed with men's
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  Speaker 1: opinion rather than God's principles. We like people who are
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  Speaker 1: clever and witty, people who can debate. Couldn't miss that moment.
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  Speaker 1: We like people who can outthink one another. On the
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  Speaker 1: horizontal plane because we like knowledge, but wisdom it's kind
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  Speaker 1: of boring, little spooky, a little hard to get a
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  Speaker 1: handle on. So we substitute knowledge for wisdom. Emotionally, we
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  Speaker 1: substitute feelings for facts. You question that, stop and think.
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  Speaker 1: We will opt for pleasure today in spite of the
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  Speaker 1: pain it'll bring tomorrow. I just had a young man
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  Speaker 1: say to me, just not too long ago, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: a few moments ago. Every day I smoke pot. Every
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  Speaker 1: day I smoke marijuana. I know it's bad, it's doing
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  Speaker 1: bad things to me. Why does he do it? It
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  Speaker 1: feels good. It feels good. We choose comfort regardless of
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  Speaker 1: the consequences. If it feels good, then it's more important
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  Speaker 1: to me than if it's best for me. If it
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  Speaker 1: makes me happy, I care about doing it rather than
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  Speaker 1: glorifying God. If that won't make me happy, I want feelings.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want facts. It's a substitute. Third, Spiritually, the
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  Speaker 1: worst of the three we substitute temporal for the eternal.
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  Speaker 1: That's what I mean by worse. What a dead end
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  Speaker 1: street that is. We tend to emphasize cost over value.
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  Speaker 1: One wag has said, Americans are the people who know
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  Speaker 1: the cost of everything and the value of nothing. We
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  Speaker 1: will go for the urgent every time rather than the important.
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  Speaker 1: Unless God's in control, we shoot for the horizontal, forgetting
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  Speaker 1: the vertical. We're impressed with the natural, not the supernatural.
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  Speaker 1: We're skeptical of that. We like quantity rather than quality.
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  Speaker 1: All of that is temporal goods as opposed to eternal stuff.
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  Speaker 1: As I said, we like the artificial rather than the authentic.
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  Speaker 1: Like the nine year old boy in San Francisco who
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  Speaker 1: was quoted as to say, I'd a lot rather watch
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  Speaker 1: TV than play outside because it's boring outside. They always
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  Speaker 1: have the same rides, like swings and things. Give me
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  Speaker 1: TV every time. One man put it this way. Man
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  Speaker 1: occasionally stumbles over the truth, but most of the time
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  Speaker 1: he'll pick himself up and continue on. One of the
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  Speaker 1: things that keeps drawing me back to the Bible week
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  Speaker 1: after week after week of my life is perspective. I
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  Speaker 1: get perspective from God's word. I don't like interruptions. When
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  Speaker 1: I am interrupted and I have God's perspective, they don't
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  Speaker 1: bother me. I don't like to wait. When I have
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  Speaker 1: perspective from God's word about waiting and I'm forced to wait,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't bother me. I don't like to suffer. When
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  Speaker 1: I am in pain and I have perspective from God's
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  Speaker 1: word on the benefits of pain and suffering, it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: bother me nearly as much. The perspective his word gives
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  Speaker 1: is phenomenal. It's called divine wisdom. It's called reality. Reality
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  Speaker 1: is not the way I wish things were. Reality is
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  Speaker 1: not the way things appear to be. Reality is the
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  Speaker 1: way things are. And that's what God tells us in
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  Speaker 1: his book, Now from Solomon's Counsel turned to a love letter.
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  Speaker 1: Paul wrote to the Thessalonians chapter three. We're gonna look
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  Speaker 1: at the latter half of this third chapter, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: so glad we're doing this. The man who wrote this
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  Speaker 1: letter was in anything but an ideal situation. Are you ready?
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  Speaker 1: He lacked the creature comforts. He was away from the
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  Speaker 1: people he knew and loved, many of them. He was
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of miles from home, he was in poor health,
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  Speaker 1: he had very little money, his future was uncertain, and
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  Speaker 1: his life was threatened. But he really lived. Does that
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  Speaker 1: seem a little bit unusual to anybody else? How many
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  Speaker 1: people do you know, given those same circumstances, if you
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  Speaker 1: call them up on the phone, would say to you
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  Speaker 1: in return, man, this is living. Only a person with
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  Speaker 1: biblical perspective could say that, and out of this context
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  Speaker 1: of difficulty could say in verse eight, we really live.
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  Speaker 1: And it's directly connected with his friends if you stand
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  Speaker 1: firm in the Lord. But he doesn't stop there. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: I find in verses nine to thirteen four factors that
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  Speaker 1: emerge that relate to real living. They're all right here
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  Speaker 1: in the passage. You don't even have to make them up.
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  Speaker 1: You don't have to make them rhyme or start with
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  Speaker 1: the same letter. They're all right there in the passage.
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  Speaker 1: The first one is what I will call joyful ingratitude.
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  Speaker 1: Not joyful ingratitude, but joyful in gratitude. Let's understand what
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  Speaker 1: we're saying verse nine, What thanks can we render to
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  Speaker 1: God for you? What thanks can we render to God
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  Speaker 1: for you? In return for all the joy with which
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  Speaker 1: we rejoice before our God on your account. I think
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  Speaker 1: Paul smiled when he wrote that. Forgive that little imagination
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  Speaker 1: if you need to. But I think Paul's on occasion
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  Speaker 1: when he thought about his friend smile. I do, and
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  Speaker 1: I think you do. Sometime when I'm writing a letter
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  Speaker 1: to someone I really love, I smile as I say
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  Speaker 1: how much I love you, how encouraged I am by
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  Speaker 1: your life. What a thrill the memory of our friendship
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  Speaker 1: is to me, and I smile. I think Paul is
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  Speaker 1: smiling when he expresses his gratitude You love Psalm one
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  Speaker 1: O three as much as I do. Bless the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless
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  Speaker 1: his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and
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  Speaker 1: forget not all his benefits. And he counts his blessings.
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  Speaker 1: He surrounds us with loving kindness, He protects us, he
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  Speaker 1: heals me, He meets my needs morning, noon and night.
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  Speaker 1: And I am full of gratitude, and I am full
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  Speaker 1: of joy. One of the reasons I love to be
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  Speaker 1: around children is because they make me laugh. It's impossible
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  Speaker 1: to be with children at play and not feel better
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  Speaker 1: after the fact, unless, of course, you've got a house
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  Speaker 1: full of fifteen or twenty of them, and you're trying
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  Speaker 1: to survive. But you know what I mean, some of
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  Speaker 1: us getty pretty grim in life. And I guess that's
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  Speaker 1: why I like certain people that interview children. Danny Kay
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  Speaker 1: is one of the best. But the best is no
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  Speaker 1: doubt art link letter and art link Letter can get
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  Speaker 1: children to say, well, as he puts it, the darnedest things.
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  Speaker 1: He remembers a three year old girl with big brown eyes,
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  Speaker 1: whom he asked, what do you do to help your mother?
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  Speaker 1: I help my mom cook breakfasts. She replied, Well, what
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  Speaker 1: do you do to help your mom with breakfasts? Art asked,
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  Speaker 1: She didn't hesitate. I put the toast in the toaster,
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  Speaker 1: but she won't let me flush it. That's a great line.
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  Speaker 1: She won't let me flesh it. Art asked one grammar
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  Speaker 1: school youth what his father did for a living. The
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  Speaker 1: boy took the microphone as if it were an ice
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  Speaker 1: cream cone. My dad's a cop. He catches crooks and
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  Speaker 1: burglars and spread eagles them and puts cuffs on them
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  Speaker 1: and takes them down the station and puts them in
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  Speaker 1: the slammer. Wow. Art replied, I bet your mother gets
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  Speaker 1: worried about his work, doesn't she Heck no, the youth
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  Speaker 1: is sure at art. He brings her lots of watches
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  Speaker 1: and rings and jewelry. Oh that's great stuff. I really
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  Speaker 1: like the one where I interviewed the kid and he said, now,
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  Speaker 1: let me give you a situation. You're the pilot of
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  Speaker 1: a commercial airliner and you got two hundred and fifty passengers,
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  Speaker 1: and you're flying to Hawaii, and you're over the ocean,
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  Speaker 1: and all four engines go out. What would you do?
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  Speaker 1: Little kids stood there and thought, and he said, I
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  Speaker 1: would press the fastened seat belt button and parachute. You
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  Speaker 1: know what, men and women, life is too grim for
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  Speaker 1: most of us. It has gotten that way since we've
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  Speaker 1: grown up. It used to not be like that. Let
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  Speaker 1: me tell you, let me tell you the most magnetic
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  Speaker 1: witness for Jesus Christ today. That's the person with contagious joy.
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  Speaker 1: You cannot stay away from them, cannot. There's a winsomeness
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  Speaker 1: about them, There's a believability about their faith. There's a
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  Speaker 1: pauline kind of freshness that says, in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: Satanic opposition, when he couldn't get to them and personal distress,
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  Speaker 1: that he mentions in verse seven of chapter three. In
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  Speaker 1: spite of the distress and the oppression from Satan, Paul says,
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  Speaker 1: you are my joy, You are my glory. I smile
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  Speaker 1: when I think of you people joyful in a life
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  Speaker 1: of gratitude. We need to keep the child alive within us.
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  Speaker 1: You might think he's kind of quirky. But I have
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  Speaker 1: a friend who carries around little toy cars in his pocket.
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  Speaker 1: I thought I had one. I've got my keys in mine.
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  Speaker 1: I thought somebody stuck one in my pocket here, And he,
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  Speaker 1: every once in a while will take out this little
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  Speaker 1: toy and look at it and stick it right back
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  Speaker 1: in his pocket, just to keep him reminded he's not
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  Speaker 1: that far removed from the child. We rejoice before our
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  Speaker 1: God on your account. I don't mean that every day
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: is full of grins and silly giggles. You know better
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: than that. That's not joy. That's a superficial cop out,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: but a deep sense of happiness with life. God is
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: in me. God's on the throne. God's moving me in
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: his direction. God's gonna take me there. And when I'm there,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: he's gonna smile and say I've been waiting for you. Your
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: mind let's go. There's no better way to live. That's
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: really living. It's not just the joyful gratitude. However, there's
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: an earnestness in prayer see verse ten. As we night
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: and day keep praying most earnestly. Do you notice the order?
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: It hit me just last night when I was reviewing
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: these thoughts. Night is mentioned first, then day. I don't
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: know if your life is like mine, but when I travel,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: my heart ist time is when the sun goes down.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I get most lonely when the sun dips down in
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the horizon and leaves this surface, and it gets dark.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: When it gets dark, weeping sometimes comes, doesn't it. Weeping
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: says the Psalmist. Now the apostle says in his nights
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: and during his days, there's a consistency in prayer, continually praying.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: And it's not a frivolous kind of now I lay
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: me down to sleep, or Dear Lord, bless the missionaries.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Not that kind of thoughtless prayer, but prayer that says
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: most earnestly. It's requests. There's an there's a fervency in it.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: In fact, it's specific that we may see your face.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: That's one request. Why would he pray that? Why didn't
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: he catch a ride and get back to Thessalonika. He tried, friends,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: he tried chapter two, verse eighteen, more than once, and
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Satan thwarted him. So he says, if Satan's going to
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: get in my way, I'll just say, God, sicken. It's
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: kind of a swind all paraphrase, but that's the idea.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I'll say, Lord, I can't seem to get my way
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: back to thesal Andonikah, you do it for me. Satan
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: keeps cutting in on my stride. I ask you, Lord
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: to push him back in lane, and you open my
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: way up. So I pray specifically about that. And second,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: I pray that I may complete what is lacking in
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: your faith? What a great prayer ever prayed that? You know?
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I have to confess to you. When I read that,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I thought, I can't remember ever praying that. Lord, I
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: really want to minister so that I can complete what
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: is lacking in someone else's faith. That's a great thought.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Talk about putting a new dimension, a third dimension in
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: a teaching ministry or a helping ministry. Our ministry completes
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: the loop. It puts people back on their feet. It
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: gives what's needed for there to be a complete sense
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: of stability. Look at verse ten again, see the word complete.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: That may and we may complete what is lacking in
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: your faith. It is a great Greek word. The term
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: means in other places, to restore a fellow Christian who
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: has wandered. Galatians six 's one restoring such a one
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: in a spirit of meekness. It's used, for example, for
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: putting a joint that has been out of place back
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: in place. It's used for mending a broken bone, used
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: for mending a torn fishing net. It's used for outfitting
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: a fleet of ships for battle. It's used for equipping
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: an army to do its work of invasion. It's always
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: completing something where without it it would be incomplete. Something
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: is missing. Paul's prayer is that he would be the
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: threads in the net. He would be the kannakay rations,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: if you please. He prays that he would be the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: one who would be the healing bomb in the brother
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: who has wandered from the faith. He prays, and in
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: doing so, he really lives. Could it be that we
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: don't really live because we carry the burdens that only
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: God was meant to handle. Could it be that part
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: of the reason life isn't as happy and delightful for
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: us as it used to be is because we have
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: taken responsibilities for things that were not ours to handle.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: I think so, and that's why I mentioned an earnestness
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: in prayer. Let me encourage you, let me go further.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Let me challenge you to get serious about prayer. Start
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: your day with it, continue your day in it, Finish
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: your day with it. Doesn't have to be hours and hours.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: It can be two, three, five, eight menes in which
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: you turn the day over to your God, or turn
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: that situation over to him, or ask him to unravel
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the thing so that it goes back together in a
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: new way. I had lunch this past week with friends
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: who had ministered over in Eastern Europe this summer, and
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: they said one thing that stood out in their mind
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: was how people really made things last because they don't
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: have the privilege of going down to two Miller's outpost
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and buying another half dozen pair of jeans. You know,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: you got a pair of jeans. They last as long
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: as you can wear them, and then your brother gets them,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: and then as long as he can wear them, he
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: wears them, and if they get a little short, then
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: his brother gets them, and they're passed right down the line.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: In fact, they will remake sweaters. They'll unravel them, and
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: they'll take all of that yarn and they'll reravel them
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: into another sweater, and they keep making other sweaters out
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: of the same yarn. That's what God does. He takes
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the sweater that I give him and he looks at
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: the mess I've made it, and he unravels it, and
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: then he puts it back together and it looks different,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: and it's now like a fresh garment. That happens when
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: I pray. I'm unraveling my sweater and I'm giving him
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the ball of yarn, and he gives me back a
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: new garment. Earnestness and prayer. Oh but if we make
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: a list on what it means to really live, it
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: would not be having a lot of money or staying young.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: It certainly would not be those things we've looked at earlier.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: It would have to include things like joyful in a
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: life of gratuity, dude. It would have to include earnestness
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: in a life of prayer, and look at verses eleven
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: and twelve. We can't leave out abounding in love, can we? Now?
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: May our God and Father himself, Now this is a
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: personal operation, and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: And it's not over. And may the Lord cause you
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: to increase and abound in love. Watch it for one
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: another and for all men, just as we do for you.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Abounding in love sounds almost like a benediction, doesn't it. Now,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: May our God and Father himself and Jesus our Lord,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: maybe it's meant to be that. Maybe his great concern
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: for these Thessalonian believers was that they would realize there's
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: a connecting link between the living God and their love life.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: May He himself personally, along with Jesus Christ, the Savior,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: cause your love not just to be maintained, but to
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: abound and increase. I smile when I say that, because
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: I have seen our children have their love abound and
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: increase for one person, until it led to courtship, and
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: then it led to an engagement, and then it led
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: to marriage. It abounded and it increased. Now the same
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: progress is in mind. Here Allow me a little pedantic
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: moment see verse twelve. The word four abound in love
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: for one another, circle that for all men, just as
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: we do four or you. I have those words marked
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: in my Bible on purpose because there's a little preposition,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: little pick and preposition in the Greek text. That is
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: what I call a preposition of penetration. Ice is the word,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: and it means into. If I were to take an
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: ice pick and push it into a volleyball, it would
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: go ice the ball. To use the term, it's the
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: word for getting down deep into, and he's using it
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: three times here. May your love increase and abound deep
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: down into one another, children of God. But don't stop.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: We're going to get downright liberal about this. May your
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: love increase into all men, just as I have a
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: love that is into you. Get the idea. I want
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: to give you a thought about love. Let's spell it,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: l O vee kind of in a column. Okay. When
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: I think of l I think of in this love relationship,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: if I really get into someone's life, I think of listening.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: I think of respecting them enough and accepting them with
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: tolerance so that I am gracious to hear what they
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: have to say, just to listen. I demonstrate love to
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: someone when I take time to listen to that person.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: Oh is overlook. When I listen to the individual, I
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: overlook the flaws so that I can affirm most of
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: us are all too well aware of our flaws when
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: we forget them. There are a number of people who
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: were willing to point the out, but nevertheless, when we
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: are deeply related to one another in love, the thing
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: that keeps us close is that other person overlooks the
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: part of me that I know oh so well. Is unattractive,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: unpleasant overlook v, I would say, would represent value. I
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: value you, you value me. We have a mutual respect.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: It isn't blind spot kind of respect. We're aware of
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: each other fully in our love relationship, but our value
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: of each other overshadows whatever we may say by way
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: of criticism, and E would have to be express. Love
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: is demonstrative. Love is something I do. Did you see
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: The Burning Bed? That awful television film in which a
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: battered wife tried to endure in a home with this
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: maddening husband who beat her to an inch of her life?
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: Tragic scenes. My wife and I set up until almost
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: twelve thirty talking about our feelings regarding it. I suppose
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: what disturbed me the most is that all the way
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: through the story, the man kept saying, I love you,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: but I love you. You see, I had this love for you.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: And one time I remember my wife put her hand
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: down firmly on the back of the sofa and says,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: he does not, he does not. That is not love.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: That kind of expression is not love. And all of
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: the saying of love will not convince a battered wife.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: It is love when I love. I don't batter. I
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: don't batter men and women. I don't know of any
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: quality that will draw the loss to us like this one. Aristides,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: while describing Christians to the Emperor Hadrian, said, oh, they
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: love one another. They never fail to help widows. They
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: have something, they give freely to the man who has nothing.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: If they see a stranger, they take him home. And Hadrian,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: they are so happy. It must be their love. Yeah,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: what's the result of this. The result of joyful gratitude,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: the result of an earnest prayer, the result of a
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: bounding love. These things that make up real living. Well,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: there's got to be one other link in the chain.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: The result. Verse thirteen sow that see the result in
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: those words, so that he whom God the Father himself
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: verse eleven. So that God the Father may establish your
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: heart's unblameable in holiness. What a finale. You want to
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: really live, abound and be established in holiness, holiness before men. No,
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: that's not Holy men and women have reduced the standard
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: of God so that anything goes if it feels good,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: do it and get rid of your guilt, because this
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: is the me era. We are in, foggy, fuzzy times
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: when it comes to purity, aren't we. In fact, it
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: is so important this matter of holiness verse thirteen that
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: he spends the next eight verses the chapter four verses
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: one to eight, developing the thought of moral purity, and
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: he talks straight, wear your steel toad shoes. When we
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: get into that, it's going to be tough sledding. Hold
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: your place here and go to first Peter Chapter two.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Would you no, it's one Peter one. Yeah, one Peter one.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Verse thirteen. Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: As obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: which were yours. In your ignorance, you had a reason
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: to walk by lust. In your early years, you were
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: ignorant of God's ways. But you're not ignorant anymore verse fifteen.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: In contrast to that lifestyle, like the one, like the
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Holy One who called you be holy yourselves in all
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: your behavior, because it is written you shall be holy,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: for I am holy. I'm so grateful that's in the
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: book that tells me my standard is to be as
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: holy as God is holy. That tells me my only
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: way of reaching that is through the person and victory
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. I can't do it in my own strength.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: I must have a savior, or I will lower that
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: standard to fit my ability to produce. But I am
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: to be holy even as He is holy. Now back
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: to First Thessalonians, Chapter three, verse thirteen, establishing our hearts
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: unblameable in holiness before our God and Father at the
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. He's
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: looking ahead to the ultimate day when we're with him,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: and he sees it as a finished, completed fact. But
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: it's not so right. Now, let me give you a
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: book to buy on the subject of holiness. It's called
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. The Pursuit of
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Holiness by Jerry Bridges, It's a grand book. In the book,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: he likens the battle for holiness Get this to nations.
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: At war. One defeats the other, as at Calvary, our
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ defeated Satan. But the losing army, though vanquished,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: then takes to the hills and fights on as a
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: gorilla movement. Fighting off sin, Bridges says, is like beating
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: back continuing gorilla attacks. Isn't that good? Isn't that true?
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: That's why we need corporate worship. We're coming in from
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: guerrilla warfare. That's why we need to be together. That's
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: why we need support groups. That's why we need the
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: fellowship of one another. Gorilla warfare is a lonely place
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: to be. I mean, they're shooting back, they're winning some battles.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: More on that next time. Left to ourselves. We substitute mentally,
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: we substitute knowledge for wisdom, Emotionally, we substitute feelings for facts.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: Spiritually we substitute the temporal for the eternal. We really
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: want to live. There's joy and gratitude, there's an earnestness
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: in prayer, there's an abundance in love, and there's an
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: established stability and holiness. Now, as we begin to grow,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: let's go back to where we started. Mentally, we become wiser, Emotionally,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: we become stronger, and spiritually we become purer. That's what
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: happens when you grow. Mentally, we get wiser, Emotionally, we
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: get stronger, and spiritually we grow purer. You know what,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: I want to confess something to you. I tend to
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: make assumptions in my preaching and teaching. I tend to
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: assume that people who hear me are already in the
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: family of God. It's easy for me to forget that
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: many have not yet come to the Savior. And you
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: know what happens when you try to carry out these
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: exciting principles in really living without Christ. It's like driving
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: your car with water. It's like filling up the tank
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: with H two O and then trying even to get
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: the thing to start. Frustrating it can in fact ruin
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: a good engine. It takes gasoline to operate. It takes
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: power to put that thing on the road. It takes
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Christ to handle the mental, spiritual, and emotional assaults that
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: we face. With all of that in mind, listen to
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Chuck Coulson's story coming from his book Loving God. As
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: I write this, it is exactly ten years since I
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: visited my dear friend Tom Phillips as the Watergate scandal
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: exploded across the nation's press. Though I felt an awful
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: deadness inside, I didn't think I was searching spiritually. But
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: while Tom's explanation that he had accepted Jesus Christ shocked
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: and baffled me, it also made me curious he was
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: at peace with himself, something I surely wasn't. Tom explained
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: it all to me that sultry August night. I couldn't
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: show too much interest. Of course, I was senior partner
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: of a powerful Washington law firm and a friend of
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the President. But as I left Tom's house, I discovered
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: I could not get my keys into the car ignition,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: I couldn't see them. The White House hatchet man, as
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: the newspapers called me, the ex Marine Infantry captain was
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: crying too hard. That night, I was confronted with my
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: own sin, not just water Gates dirty tricks, but the
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: sin deep within me, the hidden evil that lives in
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: every human heart. It was painful, and I could not escape.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: I cried out to God and found myself driven irresistibly
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: into his waiting arms. That was the night I gave
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: my life to Jesus Christ and began the greatest adventure
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: of my life. A lot of skeptics thought I wouldn't last,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: that it was just a ploy for sympathy, a foxhole conversion.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: I don't blame them. If the tables were turned, I'd
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: have thought the same thing. But not once in these
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: ten years have I doubted that Jesus Christ lives. There
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: is nothing of which I am more certain, And not
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: once would I have turned the clock back my lowest
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: days as a Christian. And there were lomans. There were lowans,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: seven months worth of them in prison. To be exact,
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: have been more fulfilling and rewarding than all the days
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: of glory in the White House. The years before conversion
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: were death. The years since have been life and the
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: adventure of loving God the purpose of that life. You
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: may have money, you may have a fine education, you
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: may have youth, you may have an adventure in front
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: of you on the horizon that is absolutely exhilarating. You
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: may have your life put together in an organized manner,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: you may even be a friend of the president, but
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: you're dead without Christ. Dead. You may appear living to
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: everyone around you, but you're living on substitutes. You haven't life.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: All you have is the ability to breathe. All you
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: have is a heart that continues to pump, But you
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: haven't life. Indeed, you are dead. And I point you
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: today to the only source of authentic, eternal life. Christ.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: Believe in Him. Now let's bow together. I speak to
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: young and old alike. I speak to all today who
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: will give me the time to listen, And I say
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: in all the love I can muster without Christ. If
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: you die, you will go to Hell with Christ. When
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: you die, you will go to heaven. There is a hell,
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: there is a heaven, and there is a hurry. Decide now,
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: The substitutes will fade into insignificance. As you take Christ.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: With him will come wisdom, purpose, stability, meaning forgiveness, hope
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: and security. Thank you Father for loving us, Thank you
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: for telling us the truth. Thank you for the joy
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: that accompanies life with God, for the privilege of earnest,
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: for the blessings that accompany the child of God in
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: every day living. May we be established in holiness. May
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: we be people who walk in dependence upon You, and
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: may you work faithfully to bring those who have not
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: yet trusted you unto yourself. I pray through Jesus Christ Amen.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, What does it Mean to Really Live
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in nineteen eighty four, nineteen eighty five, nineteen
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: ninety three, two thousand and three, and twenty twenty four,
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: by Charles Rswindall Incorporated.
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.