Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – In the End, God Wins, Part 1
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: She arrived quietly, She led with grace rather than force,
- 0:12Speaker 1: and in the end God wrote the final chapter without her.
- 0:16Speaker 1: Yet everything he accomplished he accomplished through her. For eleven studies,
- 0:21Speaker 1: we've walked alongside Esther, a woman of strength and restraint. Today,
- 0:26Speaker 1: on Insight for Living, Chucks Wundall brings this remarkable series
- 0:29Speaker 1: to a close. In this twelfth and final message from
- 0:33Speaker 1: the Book of Esther, He'll show us why triumphant hope
- 0:36Speaker 1: isn't wishful thinking. It's the very heartbeat of the Christian faith.
- 0:41Speaker 1: Chuck title today's message. In the end, God wins.
- 0:52Speaker 2: Have you found it interesting as we have studied the
- 0:55Speaker 2: Book of Esther in the life of this remarkable woman
- 0:59Speaker 2: that highly significant. Esther does not dominate every scene in
- 1:05Speaker 2: her story. It's this elegant touch of restraint I admire.
- 1:11Speaker 2: Esther's strength is revealed as much in her restraint as
- 1:16Speaker 2: in her responses, and her dignity as much in her
- 1:21Speaker 2: humility as in her integrity. Esther's quiet confidence in God,
- 1:28Speaker 2: her teachable trust in Mordecai, her gracious respect for her
- 1:33Speaker 2: husband the King are qualities that impact the story of
- 1:38Speaker 2: Esther's life, and we cannot help but be impressed.
- 1:42Speaker 3: As a matter of.
- 1:43Speaker 2: Fact, when we get to this very last chapter of
- 1:46Speaker 2: the book, Esther is not even mentioned. However, what joy
- 1:51Speaker 2: it must have brought this woman of God to realize
- 1:55Speaker 2: deep within her soul that the Lord had used her
- 1:59Speaker 2: to accomplish his grand and glorious plan. Let me read
- 2:04Speaker 2: the three verses of Ester ten from the New American
- 2:08Speaker 2: Standard in preparation for today's message, which I've titled In
- 2:13Speaker 2: the End, God Wins. Listen closely to the last chapter
- 2:19Speaker 2: of Esther, just three brief verses. Now, King of Hajuaras
- 2:25Speaker 2: laid a tribute on the land and on the coastlands
- 2:29Speaker 2: of the sea, and all the accomplishments of his authority
- 2:33Speaker 2: and strength, and the full account of the greatness of
- 2:37Speaker 2: Mordecai to which the King advanced him. Are they not
- 2:42Speaker 2: written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings
- 2:45Speaker 2: of Media and Persia. For Mordecai the Jew was second
- 2:49Speaker 2: only to King of Hajuaras, and great among the Jews,
- 2:54Speaker 2: and in favor with his medi kinsmen, one who sought
- 2:57Speaker 2: the good of his people, one who spoke for the
- 3:01Speaker 2: welfare of his whole nation.
- 3:13Speaker 1: You're listening to Insight for Living to dig deeper into
- 3:16Speaker 1: the Book of Esther on your own. Be sure to
- 3:18Speaker 1: purchase our Searching the Scripture's Bible Study workbook by going
- 3:22Speaker 1: to insight dot org slash offer Chuck titled Today's message
- 3:28Speaker 1: In the End, God Wins.
- 3:31Speaker 2: One of the great themes of Christianity is triumphant hope.
- 3:35Speaker 2: Not just hope as in a mere, distant, vague dream,
- 3:39Speaker 2: but triumphant hope, the kind of hope where things end right.
- 3:47Speaker 2: As the old English poet once wrote, all that ends,
- 3:52Speaker 2: all that ends well, all is well, that ends well.
- 4:01Speaker 2: Thanks stick around, I may need you later on. All's well,
- 4:07Speaker 2: that ends well. I love it that in the end
- 4:12Speaker 2: Christ wins, don't you. I mean, if you like stories
- 4:16Speaker 2: that end well, you'll love Christianity. In the midst of
- 4:20Speaker 2: the struggles and the storms, and the battles and the
- 4:23Speaker 2: sufferings of life, we always focus beyond us today and
- 4:30Speaker 2: we see a triumph.
- 4:31Speaker 3: We see a victory, We see relief.
- 4:36Speaker 2: We see the cessation of things that have been earthly
- 4:40Speaker 2: almost daily kind of plagues, and we rejoice because in
- 4:46Speaker 2: the end God does win. Think of it, all earthly woes,
- 4:52Speaker 2: all financial pressures, all emotional trauma, all physical disabilities and handicaps,
- 5:00Speaker 2: all domestic conflicts, all international wars and rumors of wars,
- 5:05Speaker 2: all demonic and satanic oppression. All that ends, and we
- 5:09Speaker 2: are with him, and with him comes nothing but harmony
- 5:14Speaker 2: and unity and victory and joy and praise and delight.
- 5:20Speaker 2: Think of it. All domestic conflict is over. Not another
- 5:26Speaker 2: argument with your wife. Four men said, amen, not another
- 5:32Speaker 2: argument with your husband. Thousands of women said, amen. I
- 5:39Speaker 2: heard this past week about Helen and or Helga and Henry,
- 5:43Speaker 2: a couple who had been married sixty years. They fought
- 5:46Speaker 2: like cats and dogs every day of their married life.
- 5:49Speaker 2: It came to their sixtieth anniversary. They fought all day long,
- 5:55Speaker 2: all day long. Came time to go to bed. Helga
- 5:59Speaker 2: said to him, Henry, tonight, I think that if we pray,
- 6:04Speaker 2: we better pray for peace. May God give us peace? Henry,
- 6:09Speaker 2: So tonight, I think I'll pray the Lord will take
- 6:13Speaker 2: you home, and I'll go live with my sister Roge.
- 6:20Speaker 2: That's the way we solve conflicts here. Somebody goes home
- 6:24Speaker 2: and we go live with our sister. Not then, won't
- 6:29Speaker 2: even be the beginning of a conflict. You see, we'll
- 6:32Speaker 2: be changed down inside. We'll have new natures, we'll have
- 6:36Speaker 2: new minds, we'll have new bodies. We'll have the joy
- 6:41Speaker 2: of living forever and ever in praise and adoration of
- 6:48Speaker 2: our God. You know that helps when fear comes. Jesus
- 6:54Speaker 2: gathered with his faithfull eleven before he was taken under
- 6:57Speaker 2: arrest and finally nailed to a c.
- 7:01Speaker 3: They were frightened.
- 7:02Speaker 2: They had just heard him say he was leaving by
- 7:05Speaker 2: way of a cross. They expected him to stay and
- 7:09Speaker 2: establish a crown, a throne, a kingdom.
- 7:14Speaker 3: You know what he told them.
- 7:15Speaker 2: He said, let not your hearts be troubled. You believe
- 7:19Speaker 2: in God, believe also in me. And then he said,
- 7:23Speaker 2: in my father's house are many dwelling places. He calmed
- 7:29Speaker 2: their fears by reminding them that in the end, God wins.
- 7:34Speaker 2: In the end, will be at home with the Lord.
- 7:39Speaker 2: In the end, there will be no fears, no worries,
- 7:44Speaker 2: no anxieties, no waywardness.
- 7:47Speaker 3: No battles with greed and lust and envy. It'll end.
- 7:57Speaker 2: If you take the time to look at that great
- 7:58Speaker 2: twenty first chapter of the Revelation over here at the
- 8:03Speaker 2: end of the Bible, to see that not only will
- 8:06Speaker 2: there be a new heaven. Stars won't look like they
- 8:10Speaker 2: now look. There won't be such The sun and moon
- 8:13Speaker 2: will not be in place. There will not be the
- 8:16Speaker 2: stellar spaces, the atmospheric conditions that surround us.
- 8:20Speaker 3: There will be a new Heaven, and.
- 8:22Speaker 2: There will be better, a new Earth. The first Earth
- 8:28Speaker 2: and the first Heaven will have passed away. There's no
- 8:32Speaker 2: longer any sea Verse four. He shall wipe away every
- 8:39Speaker 2: tear from the eyes. There will no longer be any death.
- 8:45Speaker 2: There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain.
- 8:49Speaker 2: The first things have passed away. If you take the
- 8:54Speaker 2: time to read through the rest of the chapter, you'll
- 8:56Speaker 2: see there's no more sun or moon or night, or sin,
- 9:01Speaker 2: or insecurity or curse or deceivers or hunger or thirst
- 9:06Speaker 2: or heat. There will be no condemnation, there will be
- 9:10Speaker 2: no separation. There won't even be any time. It will
- 9:14Speaker 2: all pass away. The names God gives this place paradise,
- 9:22Speaker 2: the Father's House, glory, rest, relief, peace, adoration, joy, praise.
- 9:30Speaker 2: Due to the absence of sin, there will be only holiness.
- 9:35Speaker 2: Due to the absence of pain, there will be only
- 9:37Speaker 2: health and perfection. The cripple will dance with glee. The
- 9:43Speaker 2: blind will see. Those who have no hearing will hear,
- 9:49Speaker 2: think of it, some for the first time, and they
- 9:53Speaker 2: will hear the antiphonal voice of angelic choirs. Wonderful, wonderful message.
- 10:03Speaker 2: Turn back to First Corinthians fifteen if you will. That's
- 10:06Speaker 2: the greatest chapter in all of scripture on the resurrection.
- 10:10Speaker 2: And if you ever want to see what life will
- 10:13Speaker 2: be like for you beyond the grave, if you know
- 10:15Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus, you'll need to make a study of
- 10:19Speaker 2: One Corinthians fifteen. Talk about a triumphant hope. I'm going
- 10:27Speaker 2: to show you too, you know, just a few words.
- 10:29Speaker 2: Look about verse twenty two down to twenty eight fifteen
- 10:33Speaker 2: twenty two, First Corinthians four as an adam aldye, So
- 10:37Speaker 2: also in Christ, all shall be made alive, each in
- 10:40Speaker 2: his own order.
- 10:41Speaker 3: Christ.
- 10:41Speaker 2: The first fruits, after that those who are Christ at
- 10:44Speaker 2: his coming.
- 10:45Speaker 3: You get this. The first one to be raised was
- 10:47Speaker 3: Jesus Christ. Are you ready?
- 10:49Speaker 2: The second ones to be raised are the born again
- 10:52Speaker 2: believers who have been laid to rest, who.
- 10:55Speaker 3: Will be waiting his arrival.
- 10:58Speaker 2: When he comes the dead end, Christ shall rise, and
- 11:02Speaker 2: we who are alive shall be caught up together with
- 11:04Speaker 2: them in the clouds to meet the Lord of the Aar.
- 11:06Speaker 3: So shall we ever be with the Lord.
- 11:08Speaker 2: It's enough to give your rapture fever, always thrilling to
- 11:12Speaker 2: think about that Christ the first fruits. Then those who
- 11:15Speaker 2: are Christ at his coming.
- 11:16Speaker 3: Then comes the end.
- 11:18Speaker 2: Now watch closely when he delivers up the kingdom to
- 11:21Speaker 2: God the Father, when he has abolished all rule, all authority,
- 11:25Speaker 2: and all power. For he that's Christ, must reign until
- 11:28Speaker 2: he has put all enemies under his feet. And the
- 11:31Speaker 2: last enemy that will be destroyed abolished is death. Thank God,
- 11:38Speaker 2: no death. No one will age any longer. No one
- 11:43Speaker 2: will say I'm approaching the days of my twilight years.
- 11:48Speaker 2: We will be timeless and ageless and death less Verse
- 11:54Speaker 2: twenty eight. When all things are subjected to the Lord Jesus,
- 11:59Speaker 2: then the sun himself also will be subjected to the
- 12:03Speaker 2: one who subjected all things to him, that's God the Father.
- 12:07Speaker 3: That God may be all in all.
- 12:12Speaker 2: That God may be all in all, he will ultimately win.
- 12:18Speaker 2: Skeptics call this pie in the sky. By and by
- 12:22Speaker 2: let them.
- 12:22Speaker 3: Say what they will.
- 12:24Speaker 2: I dread to give a name to what they face.
- 12:27Speaker 2: In the final scenes of existence. I find glory and
- 12:35Speaker 2: the best word Heaven gives us. I find peace. You
- 12:40Speaker 2: realize how many times we sing of this in our hymnity,
- 12:45Speaker 2: the old songs, the sweet Bye and Bye Handel chose
- 12:52Speaker 2: one write from scripture, and he shall reign forever and ever.
- 12:57Speaker 2: In the Hallelujah chorus of the Messiah, there's a gospel song.
- 13:01Speaker 2: It will be worth it all when we see Jesus
- 13:04Speaker 2: the old sands of time and glory, glory dwelleth in
- 13:07Speaker 2: Emmanuel's land. Wesley's words write from Romans A, no condemnation.
- 13:14Speaker 2: Now I dread Jesus and all in him I find.
- 13:20Speaker 2: In the end, God wins. In the end, there is
- 13:24Speaker 2: ultimate victory.
- 13:26Speaker 3: If you like stories and end.
- 13:28Speaker 2: Well, you'll love the story of Jesus. And that's what
- 13:33Speaker 2: makes me love the Book of Esther. Not only does
- 13:36Speaker 2: it have a great plot that sort of keeps you
- 13:39Speaker 2: on the edge of your seat, but when it comes
- 13:41Speaker 2: to the final scene, things are right, things end well.
- 13:47Speaker 2: Doesn't it drive you nuts to go to a movie
- 13:50Speaker 2: that just stops You walk out thinking, well, I guess
- 13:54Speaker 2: it's the intermission. We'll come back a little later and
- 13:56Speaker 2: see the end, and it's the end or the end
- 13:59Speaker 2: of a book, and you keep turning, thinking maybe, after
- 14:02Speaker 2: a few blank pages there'll be a better ending. It's
- 14:05Speaker 2: never there. You like things that have a wrap around them.
- 14:09Speaker 2: They have a final ending. And if you're like me,
- 14:13Speaker 2: you like it when truth wins out, when right wins
- 14:16Speaker 2: over wrong, when evil is subjected and good reigns. That's
- 14:21Speaker 2: what you like about Esther Now, king of Hazuaris, laid
- 14:25Speaker 2: a tribute on the land and on the coastlands of
- 14:29Speaker 2: the sea. Chapter ten begins, and all the accomplishments of
- 14:33Speaker 2: his authority and strength, as well as the full account
- 14:37Speaker 2: of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him,
- 14:42Speaker 2: are they not written in the book of the Chronicles
- 14:45Speaker 2: the Kings of Media and Persia. For Mordecai the jew
- 14:50Speaker 2: was second only to King Ahasuaris, and great among the Jews,
- 14:58Speaker 2: and in favor with the moltenitude of his kinsmen, one
- 15:01Speaker 2: who sought the good of his people, and one who
- 15:04Speaker 2: spoke for the welfare of his whole nation. Into the book,
- 15:09Speaker 2: and it's right, it ends like it ought to end.
- 15:13Speaker 3: What do we have here?
- 15:14Speaker 2: Well, to begin with, we have the same king that
- 15:17Speaker 2: we started with. If you will remember over in Chapter one,
- 15:21Speaker 2: Verse one. All of it took place in the days
- 15:24Speaker 2: of the same king, King of Hajuaras we have the
- 15:27Speaker 2: same kingdom where he reigns from India to Ethiopia over
- 15:32Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty seven provinces. That doesn't change. We
- 15:35Speaker 2: have the same country Persia, the same city Susa. We've
- 15:39Speaker 2: looked at it a long time. Now we have the
- 15:42Speaker 2: same realm of authority. We have the same manner of ruling.
- 15:45Speaker 2: But unlike at the beginning of the story, we have
- 15:49Speaker 2: evil fully dealt with. Hayman is gone forever. Mordecai is
- 15:55Speaker 2: alive and well. The presence of evil and corruption and
- 15:59Speaker 2: wicked plans, all those things are out, and the embodiment
- 16:03Speaker 2: of a wholesome kind of peaceful reign is in. As
- 16:09Speaker 2: the prime ministership has been passed from Hayman to Mordecai,
- 16:15Speaker 2: we're told of the economy of the kingdom in verse one.
- 16:18Speaker 2: I take it that the tribute has reference to taxes.
- 16:21Speaker 2: So with us there was a fresh set of taxes
- 16:24Speaker 2: that continues to be true to this present day, doesn't it.
- 16:27Speaker 2: Verse two we're informed of the leadership, and Mordecai has
- 16:32Speaker 2: been promoted by the king, he is second in command.
- 16:35Speaker 3: But it is verse three that yields.
- 16:38Speaker 2: Such helpful information. It explains why Mordecai is described as great.
- 16:44Speaker 2: In verse two. We're told four things about this man
- 16:49Speaker 2: here in the last verse of the Book of esther.
- 16:53Speaker 2: First we're told he was great among the Jews. Second,
- 16:59Speaker 2: we are told he was in favor with the multitude
- 17:03Speaker 2: of his kinsmen. Third, we are told that he sought
- 17:07Speaker 2: the good of his people. And fourth we read that
- 17:12Speaker 2: he spoke for the welfare of his whole nation. If
- 17:17Speaker 2: all is well, that ends well, this is well. You
- 17:22Speaker 2: got to remember this is gentile country. This is where
- 17:27Speaker 2: gentiles rule and where gentiles live. And there's a small
- 17:32Speaker 2: remnant of Jews who were there only by the permission
- 17:36Speaker 2: of the government. They could have all been killed, but
- 17:39Speaker 2: they were allowed to come in as captives, and now
- 17:42Speaker 2: they live in this land of Persia. And to our amazement,
- 17:46Speaker 2: and certainly to the people who live, then we now
- 17:49Speaker 2: have a Jew who is second in command, according to
- 17:53Speaker 2: verse three, second only to king of Haaguaras that brings
- 17:58Speaker 2: me to the first of three options, which yield three
- 18:02Speaker 2: principles that I want to focus most of our attention
- 18:05Speaker 2: on today. The first observation is this, the one who
- 18:09Speaker 2: has exalted to the place of authority in Persia is surprising.
- 18:16Speaker 3: He's surprising. Who would have ever guessed?
- 18:20Speaker 2: I mean, after all, these are Jews away from homeland.
- 18:24Speaker 2: Who would have ever expected a Jew would be a
- 18:26Speaker 2: prime minister in a gentile land? I mean it would
- 18:31Speaker 2: have made the headlines of the SUSA Daily Sun, which
- 18:34Speaker 2: would probably read Gentile king chooses new prime minister a Jew.
- 18:40Speaker 3: That's a surprising part.
- 18:42Speaker 2: You see, it doesn't say in verse one, King of
- 18:45Speaker 2: hazuwaris a gentile promoted Mordecai the Jew. Verse three, well,
- 18:52Speaker 2: of course not, because being a gentile didn't make news.
- 18:56Speaker 3: Being a Jew did. That's surprising.
- 19:01Speaker 2: Who would have ever guessed that a one time Jewish
- 19:04Speaker 2: anonymous gatekeeper would now be nobility.
- 19:10Speaker 3: That leads us to the first principle.
- 19:13Speaker 2: When God wins, the people he uses are often unexpected.
- 19:21Speaker 3: They're often unexpected.
- 19:24Speaker 2: Reminds me of one of my all time favorite psalms,
- 19:27Speaker 2: Psalm seventy eight, which concludes with this comment about David Listen.
- 19:33Speaker 2: God chose David his servant and took him from the
- 19:37Speaker 2: sheep with suckling lambs. He brought David to feed Jacob
- 19:42Speaker 2: his people and Israel his inheritance. So David fed them
- 19:46Speaker 2: according to the integrity of his heart, and he guided
- 19:49Speaker 2: them with skillful hands.
- 19:52Speaker 3: What a surprise.
- 19:55Speaker 2: For forty years almost they had enjoyed the reign of
- 19:59Speaker 2: a king who was tall, dark and handsome, King Saul,
- 20:05Speaker 2: who at least looked like regal authority. He failed in
- 20:09Speaker 2: his character, and God slipped his hand into the ranks
- 20:13Speaker 2: of the Jews, and he picked a teenage Jewish shepherd
- 20:20Speaker 2: who kept his father's sheep. And after killing a giant,
- 20:25Speaker 2: the people began to realize this boy is worth watching,
- 20:31Speaker 2: and God chose him to lead the people in character.
- 20:36Speaker 2: Surprising choice.
- 20:39Speaker 3: Let's go even further.
- 20:41Speaker 2: If you were to lead an exodus out of Egypt,
- 20:45Speaker 2: and you were to lead two million people in this process,
- 20:50Speaker 2: would you have picked a Jew to face Pharaoh an Egyptian?
- 20:57Speaker 2: Here's another Would you that you would have chosen been
- 21:02Speaker 2: a man with a criminal record who killed an Egyptian
- 21:05Speaker 2: forty years ago and never went to trial. How about this?
- 21:09Speaker 2: Would he have been eighty years old? See it gets
- 21:12Speaker 2: even more surprising the further you look. The resume in
- 21:17Speaker 2: moses life was remarkable work for father in law as
- 21:21Speaker 2: shepherd for past forty years. He isn't strong, he isn't eloquent,
- 21:27Speaker 2: he doesn't have a lot of creativity and charisma. He's
- 21:31Speaker 2: a Bedouin, viewed by Egyptians as over the hill and ignorant.
- 21:39Speaker 2: Would you have chosen a harlot to hide the spies?
- 21:42Speaker 2: Would you have chosen a defecting, rebellious prophet to lead
- 21:48Speaker 2: the nine of a evangelistic crusade? Would you have chosen
- 21:54Speaker 2: a once Christian, hating former pharisee to write most of
- 21:59Speaker 2: the New test Would you have chosen the man who
- 22:03Speaker 2: the night Jesus was arrested announced to the people around him.
- 22:08Speaker 3: I don't even know him.
- 22:10Speaker 2: Would you have let him be the major spokesman for
- 22:13Speaker 2: your early church that you just began, namely the apostle
- 22:17Speaker 2: Peter No, But you see, God does surprising things, just
- 22:25Speaker 2: as he at the end of a book that ends well,
- 22:28Speaker 2: has lifted a no name from the gate of the
- 22:31Speaker 2: king and made him a prime minister.
- 22:33Speaker 3: So God still lifts.
- 22:36Speaker 2: No names and uses them as significant folks.
- 22:50Speaker 1: Rahab, Moses, Paul, Peter, Mordecai. The pattern never changes. When
- 22:57Speaker 1: God wins the people he uses are almost never are
- 23:00Speaker 1: the ones the world would have chosen, and that should
- 23:02Speaker 1: give every one of us reason for hope. This is
- 23:06Speaker 1: insight for living To go deeper into this remarkable story.
- 23:10Speaker 1: Chuckswyn Dall and his creative team have prepared Bible study
- 23:13Speaker 1: resources that will guide you through the Book of Esther.
- 23:16Speaker 1: Chuck's twelve part series on Esther concludes tomorrow, so while
- 23:20Speaker 1: it's fresh on your mind, take advantage of the Bible
- 23:23Speaker 1: study tools we've prepared for you, including the Searching the Scriptures,
- 23:27Speaker 1: Bible Study Workbook for Esther, and the audio CDs. All
- 23:31Speaker 1: the details can be found at insight dot org slash offer,
- 23:36Speaker 1: and then, beginning on Wednesday, our attention will turn to
- 23:39Speaker 1: another powerful series. This time, Chuck's focus is on the
- 23:42Speaker 1: amazing attributes of God. A key theme in this next
- 23:46Speaker 1: study is the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
- 23:50Speaker 2: Chuck, you know, for almost twenty years a colleague of
- 23:53Speaker 2: mine did the same thing every single Sunday. Right before
- 23:59Speaker 2: I stepped up to reach how he would lean over
- 24:01Speaker 2: and whisper a few words into my ear, the same
- 24:05Speaker 2: words every time. Preach Grace, Chuck, preach the Cross. Oh
- 24:11Speaker 2: my I can still hear his voice. And here's what
- 24:15Speaker 2: I've learned after more than sixty plus years of standing
- 24:19Speaker 2: behind a pulpit. Those four words are the whole ballgame.
- 24:24Speaker 2: Everything else is just noise. The cross isn't a decoration,
- 24:29Speaker 2: It isn't the introduction to a better topic. It is
- 24:32Speaker 2: the topic, always has been, always will be. The apostle.
- 24:37Speaker 2: Paul said it plainly. I determined to know nothing among
- 24:41Speaker 2: you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's not a
- 24:47Speaker 2: modest man under selling himself. That's a brilliant man who
- 24:51Speaker 2: finally understood what actually changes people. Not cleverness, not rhetoric,
- 24:57Speaker 2: not a carefully crafted par performance. The cross, just the Cross.
- 25:04Speaker 2: That's why Insight for Living exists, not to put on
- 25:07Speaker 2: a good broadcast, not to win awards or grow an audience,
- 25:11Speaker 2: but to make sure that somewhere in a car and
- 25:15Speaker 2: a kitchen, on a phone, on a computer screen halfway
- 25:19Speaker 2: around the world, someone has a genuine, life altering encounter
- 25:25Speaker 2: with the cross. We proclaim now June thirtieth marks the
- 25:30Speaker 2: end of our fiscal year, and I want to invite
- 25:33Speaker 2: you personally to become part of what happens next. When
- 25:37Speaker 2: you send a gift to Insight for Living. You're not
- 25:40Speaker 2: just supporting a ministry, you actually have one. Your generosity
- 25:45Speaker 2: is what casts the seed of God's word into places
- 25:49Speaker 2: I will never go and reach people I will never meet.
- 25:52Speaker 2: That's not small, that's extraordinary. Would you give today generously, sacrificially,
- 26:00Speaker 2: joyfully join me in giving the Cross our very best.
- 26:05Speaker 1: As a tangible expression of our gratitude for your gift,
- 26:08Speaker 1: we'd like to send you a brand new booklet from Chuck.
- 26:11Speaker 1: It's called The Cross we proclaim. We publish this booklet
- 26:15Speaker 1: to coincide with Chuck's series that begins on Wednesday. When
- 26:19Speaker 1: you give a gift to Insight for Living, we'd be
- 26:21Speaker 1: pleased to send you a copy. You know, we live
- 26:23Speaker 1: in a world that's obsessed with image, credentials and making impressions.
- 26:28Speaker 1: In his booklet, Chuck says there's a better way to live,
- 26:31Speaker 1: and it begins at the foot of the Cross, where
- 26:34Speaker 1: all the ground is level. By reading The Cross, we proclaim,
- 26:38Speaker 1: you'll find the freedom that comes when you stop managing
- 26:41Speaker 1: your reputation and start resting in what Christ accomplished. To
- 26:45Speaker 1: give a donation and request a copy of The Cross,
- 26:48Speaker 1: we proclaim, call us at eight hundred seven seven to
- 26:51Speaker 1: two eighty eight eighty eight, or to send a check
- 26:54Speaker 1: in the mail along with your request for the booklet,
- 26:57Speaker 1: just address the envelope too Insight Living, Post Office Box
- 27:02Speaker 1: five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five three four. You can
- 27:07Speaker 1: also go to insight dot org slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer.
- 27:20Speaker 1: Don't miss Chucks Wendall's conclusion to his classic biographical study
- 27:24Speaker 1: on Esther Tuesday on Insight for Living. The preceding message
- 27:32Speaker 1: in the end, God Wins was copyrighted in nineteen eighty nine,
- 27:36Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nineteen ninety seven, two thousand and five, twenty eighteen,
- 27:41Speaker 1: and twenty twenty six, and the sound recording was copyrighted
- 27:44Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six by Charles Rswindall Incorporated. All rights
- 27:49Speaker 1: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
- 27:53Speaker 1: is strictly prohibited