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Astonishing Authority, Part 1 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll brings us into
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  Speaker 1: a first-century synagogue where a stranger from Nazareth stood up
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  Speaker 1: to teach. There was something different about the way this
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  Speaker 1: man spoke. The people had heard teachers before. They'd sat
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  Speaker 1: through more than a few dull ones. But this one,
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  Speaker 1: this man was different. His words carried a weight they'd
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  Speaker 1: never encountered. and the room fell silent because something happened
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  Speaker 1: that no one in the room saw coming. Chuck opens
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  Speaker 1: our eyes to it today as we read from Mark
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  Speaker 1: chapter 1.
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  Speaker 2: The Word of God is alive and active and sharper
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  Speaker 2: than a two-edged sword. It is able to pierce between
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  Speaker 2: the joints and the marrow in the soul and the
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  Speaker 2: spirit and is able to judge the intentions of the heart.
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  Speaker 2: Before our God, all things are laid bare. With him,
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  Speaker 2: there are no secrets. There is no private chamber to
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  Speaker 2: which we can go to escape from him, nor would
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  Speaker 2: we if we could. May God help us to learn
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  Speaker 2: the value of earnestness in our walk with Him. Learning
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  Speaker 2: not to take anything for granted. Anything. We have the
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  Speaker 2: privilege of having a Bible in our own tongue and
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  Speaker 2: available in print for us to read and from which
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  Speaker 2: to learn. We love God's Word. We don't worship the
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  Speaker 2: print on the page. We worship the one who gave
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  Speaker 2: us his word and preserved it for us. Mark 1
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  Speaker 2: has been preserved through the centuries and verses 21 to
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  Speaker 2: 28 are like words written with a stylus and drilled
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  Speaker 2: into ancient marble and preserved for us to see and
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  Speaker 2: to read and from which to learn. And that's all
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  Speaker 2: before us today. Mark 1, 21 to 28. They went
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  Speaker 2: into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the
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  Speaker 2: synagogue and began to teach. They were amazed at his teaching.
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  Speaker 2: For he was teaching them as one having authority and
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  Speaker 2: not as the scribes. Just then there was a man
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  Speaker 2: in their synagogue with an unclean spirit And he cried out, saying,
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  Speaker 2: What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth?
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  Speaker 2: Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are,
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  Speaker 2: the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying,
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  Speaker 2: Be quiet and come out of him. Throwing him into convulsions,
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  Speaker 2: the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and
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  Speaker 2: came out of him. They were all amazed. So that
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  Speaker 2: they debated among themselves saying, what is this? A new
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  Speaker 2: teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and
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  Speaker 2: they obey him. Immediately the news about him spread everywhere
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  Speaker 2: into all the surrounding district of Galilee.
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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into
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  Speaker 1: the gospel according to Mark, be sure to purchase a
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  Speaker 1: copy of our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbooks by
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  Speaker 1: going to insight.org. Chuck titled today's message, Astonishing Authority.
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  Speaker 2: Being in the presence of Jesus Christ, Must have been
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  Speaker 2: an awesome experience. Awesome. Watching him in action and seeing
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  Speaker 2: him as he ministered to people of all types with
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  Speaker 2: all kinds of needs was just magnificent. And hearing him
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  Speaker 2: preach with such magnificent mixture of authenticity and authority was
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  Speaker 2: surely breathtaking. Folks were, we would use the word, thunderstruck.
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  Speaker 2: I did a quick survey in the Gospels and found
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  Speaker 2: the responses in these words. They were amazed. They were astonished.
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  Speaker 2: No one dared ask him a question. No one ever
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  Speaker 2: spoke like this man. And again, they were amazed at
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  Speaker 2: his teachings. His content was reliable. His theology was impeccable.
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  Speaker 2: His presentation was flawless. His words were penetrating. And most
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  Speaker 2: of all, his authority was compelling. Better said, astonishing. Whoever
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  Speaker 2: heard him realized how different he was from any local
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  Speaker 2: rabbi they had listened to or Any instructor, no matter
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  Speaker 2: the official title, there was no one like Jesus. An
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  Speaker 2: expositor from the past named George Campbell Morgan was the
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  Speaker 2: minister at Westminster Chapel in the heart of London on
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  Speaker 2: two separate occasions. Interestingly, he served there from 1904 to
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  Speaker 2: 1917 and left. And then he returned in 1933 and
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  Speaker 2: again ministered at Westminster until 1943. Well-known expositor, fine church,
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  Speaker 2: known for his exposition of the scriptures. And along came
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  Speaker 2: others in his train that have followed in the same suit.
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  Speaker 2: Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of the better known of those there.
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  Speaker 2: I remember the privilege that was mine to preach at
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  Speaker 2: Westminster Chapel. First, getting into the pulpit is an experience.
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  Speaker 2: There's a spiral staircase. You walk up until when you
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  Speaker 2: are in the pulpit, you are about the level of
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  Speaker 2: the balcony, which is sort of a horseshoe shape around
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  Speaker 2: the building. But the people on the first row are
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  Speaker 2: way down there, it seems. Cynthia was sitting there looking
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  Speaker 2: up like that from the front row. I remember that.
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  Speaker 2: But tears came to my eyes when I realized what
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  Speaker 2: a privilege it was just to stand in the place
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  Speaker 2: where G. Campbell Morgan had once held forth. Morgan not
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  Speaker 2: only preached there at Westminster Chapel, he also trained young
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  Speaker 2: ministers who would one day preach in the congregational ministry.
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  Speaker 2: He used to say that every sermon needed three essentials, truth, clarity,
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  Speaker 2: and passion. I've thought about that. It is the truth
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  Speaker 2: that gives the message relevance. It is the clarity that
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  Speaker 2: gives it understanding. It is the passion that makes it interesting.
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  Speaker 2: Regarding all of that, Morgan told of the life of
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  Speaker 2: a great English actor named MacReady. A preacher once asked
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  Speaker 2: him how the actor could draw such crowds by just
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  Speaker 2: using words that were fictional. While he, the preacher, always
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  Speaker 2: preaching the truth, could not draw much of a crowd
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  Speaker 2: at all, he said. Well, it's quite simple, replied the actor.
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  Speaker 2: I can tell you the difference between us. I present
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  Speaker 2: my fiction as though it were truth. You present your
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  Speaker 2: truth as though it were fiction. Then Morgan added his
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  Speaker 2: own comment, given the preacher with his Bible, I cannot
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  Speaker 2: personally understand that man not being swept sometimes right out
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  Speaker 2: of himself by the fire and the force and the
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  Speaker 2: fervor of his work. Isn't that a great line? How
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  Speaker 2: tragic it is that so many Preachers have decided to
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  Speaker 2: deliver the truth as though it were fiction. No wonder
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  Speaker 2: audiences are bored to tears. No wonder it is considered
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  Speaker 2: dull to come to a church and to sit through it.
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  Speaker 2: Television personality of yesteryear, Jack Parr, once made a great comment,
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  Speaker 2: the greatest sin on earth is to be dull. Billy
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  Speaker 2: Wilder added, I have a vast and terrible desire never
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  Speaker 2: to bore my audience. JB Phillips, who gave us one
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  Speaker 2: of the early paraphrases of the Bible, or at least
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  Speaker 2: of the New Testament, wrote, if words are to enter
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  Speaker 2: people's heart and bear fruit, they must be right words
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  Speaker 2: shaped cunningly to pass all defenses and explode silently and
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  Speaker 2: effectually within their mind. I've had that experience having sat
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  Speaker 2: in the presence of some great preachers, great in the
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  Speaker 2: sense that they knew how to take the print from
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  Speaker 2: the page and deliver it in a way that forced
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  Speaker 2: me to stay aware and awake and alive as those
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  Speaker 2: words exploded in my mind back to Jesus. Never once
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  Speaker 2: did he present truth as if it were fiction, never dull,
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  Speaker 2: never bored his hearers. People stayed on the edge of
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  Speaker 2: their seat as those words penetrated their defenses. He even
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  Speaker 2: called people out of their regular world, their occupation, and
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  Speaker 2: they followed him without hesitation. Amazing. We see that right
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  Speaker 2: here in Mark chapter 1 as we do a little
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  Speaker 2: quick review of where we were last time. The first
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  Speaker 2: place Jesus goes, we read in verse 16, is Galilee.
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  Speaker 2: That's the area where he was reared. Nazareth is in Galilee.
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  Speaker 2: And there along the seashore of the Sea of Galilee,
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  Speaker 2: that lake that is up in the northern part of
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  Speaker 2: the land of Israel, he does his, he carries on
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  Speaker 2: his ministry and he comes upon two men first, Peter
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  Speaker 2: and Andrew, his brother and After a brief, brief conversation,
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  Speaker 2: whatever words were said, beyond what Mark records, they were
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  Speaker 2: enough for those men to drop their nets and to
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  Speaker 2: begin to follow him. The only promise he gave them was,
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  Speaker 2: I will make you become fishers of men. And that
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  Speaker 2: was enough for them. Fishing for fish is one thing.
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  Speaker 2: We will never go hungry, but fishing for people Oh,
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  Speaker 2: there's an eternal satisfaction in that that no food will
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  Speaker 2: ever satisfy. Shortly after those two, he comes upon James
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  Speaker 2: and John, and these two brothers are working with their
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  Speaker 2: father Zebedee, and they are mending their nets, we read
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  Speaker 2: here in verse 19. And again, Mark's favorite word, immediately.
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  Speaker 2: He called them, and they left their father Zebedee along
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  Speaker 2: with the hired servants, and they went away to follow him.
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  Speaker 2: Can you imagine just hanging a sign on your door
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  Speaker 2: at the business? Not gone fishing, but gone forever. Following
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  Speaker 2: Jesus or something like that, Zebedee still has his mouth
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  Speaker 2: open watching his boys walk away. He didn't call Zebedee.
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  Speaker 2: He called John and James. And his words were like
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  Speaker 2: none other. They left and they followed him. There was
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  Speaker 2: something about his presence. There was something magnetic about his words.
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  Speaker 2: The next scene Mark presents, we find him on a
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  Speaker 2: Sabbath that Saturday. And this is Jewish country. This is
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  Speaker 2: among the Hebrews and they are in Capernaum. Capernaum is
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  Speaker 2: a little village about 20 miles from Nazareth, northeast of Nazareth.
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  Speaker 2: Capernaum is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
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  Speaker 2: Nazareth is more inland down south, southwest of Capernaum. But
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  Speaker 2: we read that immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the
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  Speaker 2: synagogue and began to teach. I have the feeling that
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  Speaker 2: very few of you have ever even been in a
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  Speaker 2: 21st century synagogue. None of us could ever be in
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  Speaker 2: a 1st century synagogue. It was a synagogue-like. First thought is, well,
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  Speaker 2: probably like our church, except they teach the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 2: Not at all like our church. Not at all like
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  Speaker 2: any church. The first century synagogue served three purposes. First,
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  Speaker 2: on the Sabbath, it was a place of instruction. During
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  Speaker 2: the week, it was a schoolhouse where the children were
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  Speaker 2: taught the first five books of the Old Testament called
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  Speaker 2: the Torah Genesis through Deuteronomy. And then on occasions when
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  Speaker 2: there was a need, minor court cases were held at
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  Speaker 2: the synagogue. Legal work was done and hopefully the issue
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  Speaker 2: was resolved at the synagogue. William Barclay goes further. The
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  Speaker 2: synagogue was primarily a teaching institution. Synagogue service consisted of
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  Speaker 2: three things. Prayer, the reading of the scrolls and the
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  Speaker 2: exposition of it. There was no music, no singing, and
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  Speaker 2: no sacrifice. It may be said that the temple was
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  Speaker 2: the place of worship and sacrifice. The synagogue was the
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  Speaker 2: place of teaching and instruction. The synagogue was by far
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  Speaker 2: the more influential, for there was only one temple. But
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  Speaker 2: the law laid it down that wherever there were 10
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  Speaker 2: Jewish families, there must be a synagogue. And therefore, wherever
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  Speaker 2: there was a colony of Jews, there was a synagogue.
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  Speaker 2: If a man had a new message to preach, the
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  Speaker 2: synagogue was the obvious place in which to preach it.
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  Speaker 2: Let me go a little further. Stay with me. The
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  Speaker 2: synagogue provided an opportunity to deliver such a message. Synagogue
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  Speaker 2: had certain officials. There was the ruler of the synagogue.
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  Speaker 2: He was responsible for the administration of the affairs of
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  Speaker 2: the synagogue, for the arrangement of its services. Then there
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  Speaker 2: were the distributors of alms. Daily collections were taken in
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  Speaker 2: cash and in kind, for those who could afford to give.
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  Speaker 2: Then that was distributed to the poor. The very poorest
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  Speaker 2: were given food for 14 meals per week. There was
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  Speaker 2: also the Khazan, C-H-A-Z-Z-A-N, Khazan. When you say it right,
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  Speaker 2: something lands on the neck of the person in front
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  Speaker 2: of you, Khazan. The Khazan was the man whom the
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  Speaker 2: authorized version describes as the minister. He was responsible for
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  Speaker 2: taking out and storing away the sacred scrolls on which
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  Speaker 2: scripture was written for the cleaning of the synagogue, for
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  Speaker 2: the blowing of the blasts on the silver trumpet, which
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  Speaker 2: told people that the Sabbath had come for the elementary
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  Speaker 2: education of the children of the community. One thing the
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  Speaker 2: synagogue had not, and that was a permanent preacher or teacher.
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  Speaker 2: When people met at the synagogue, The service was open
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  Speaker 2: to the ruler to call on any competent person to
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  Speaker 2: give the address and the exposition. Now, why do I
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  Speaker 2: take your time for that? Because it explains how Jesus
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  Speaker 2: could come along the shores of Galilee, happen into the
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  Speaker 2: synagogue at Capernaum, which, by the way, was Peter and
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  Speaker 2: John's and Andrew and James's synagogue, most likely then since
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  Speaker 2: that was their home. They had grown up in that synagogue,
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  Speaker 2: maybe gone to synagogue school, the Torah school there, so
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  Speaker 2: that was familiar for them. But this was different. It
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  Speaker 2: explains how this stranger from Nazareth could be allowed to
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  Speaker 2: come in and preach. But don't miss something. Mark is
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  Speaker 2: so brief, he hasn't told us everything Jesus has been doing.
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  Speaker 2: By now, the crowds have swollen. The word is out.
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  Speaker 2: This itinerant evangelist is well known. It's a little like
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  Speaker 2: several years ago, Billy Graham being in Frisco and one
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  Speaker 2: of us inviting him, who wouldn't, to come and preach
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  Speaker 2: at this pulpit. We would know of him from his
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  Speaker 2: itinerant ministry. So, no doubt, the Chazan said to Jesus
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  Speaker 2: on a Friday or a Thursday, come, preach on Saturday.
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  Speaker 2: And so he does. Now we're ready. for the public
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  Speaker 2: ministry on the Sabbath. Verse 21. They went into Capernaum
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  Speaker 2: and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and
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  Speaker 2: began to teach. I love the next three words. They
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  Speaker 2: were amazed. Why?
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  Speaker 1: Why?
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  Speaker 2: Because all their lives they've been bored by the scribes.
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  Speaker 2: All their lives they've sat through one scribe after another.
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  Speaker 2: Who were the scribes? Well, they were the attorneys. Sorry.
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  Speaker 2: Most attorneys I know are pretty dull. They may know
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  Speaker 2: the law, but please don't let them preach. In those days,
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  Speaker 2: scribes preached, but they had no original thought. Sounds familiar,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't it? Anyway, no, it's okay. Just a little lighthearted moment.
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  Speaker 2: Scribes were forever quoting this rabbi and what he said
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  Speaker 2: in that century with that rabbi and what he said
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  Speaker 2: and comparing the two, and they got into the tedious
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  Speaker 2: intricacies of what this rabbi meant when he wrote that
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  Speaker 2: particular line as opposed to what he meant and how
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  Speaker 2: that— you' re already bored, and I'm just describing the scribes. That's
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  Speaker 2: all they had heard all of their lives until Jesus
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  Speaker 2: steps up and delivers an original message from the scroll.
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  Speaker 2: They have never heard anything like it. Cynthia and I
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  Speaker 2: were bored to tears in a church for years. This
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  Speaker 2: was way back when, early on before we were married.
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  Speaker 2: And then one day we heard someone who knew what
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  Speaker 2: he was doing. And he opened the word and our
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  Speaker 2: mouths dropped open. I'll never forget it. Never forget it. Finally,
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  Speaker 2: we were drawn to the church like a moth to
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  Speaker 2: a lamp. I'm telling you, there was something there that
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  Speaker 2: was nowhere else. What was it? It was this teaching
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  Speaker 2: of the truth in a way that didn't bore us.
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  Speaker 2: It was stimulating. It was alive. It was, well, to
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  Speaker 2: go back to Morgan's words, it was truth. It was clear.
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  Speaker 2: It was passionate. And when you left, you were different.
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  Speaker 2: And we found ourselves always saying, I'm just amazed. I
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  Speaker 2: never knew what was in the scriptures before. It's been
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  Speaker 2: there all along. But We've missed it. Now, Mark doesn't
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  Speaker 2: tell us what he said, only their response to his teaching.
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  Speaker 2: Look at it. They were amazed at his teaching, verse 22. Why?
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  Speaker 2: Learn to notice the little words, and, as, for. Here's
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  Speaker 2: one of those fours. They were amazed at his teaching for,
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  Speaker 2: it's the word because, because he was teaching them as
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  Speaker 2: one having authority and not as the scribes. Meaning what?
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  Speaker 2: He didn't spend all his time comparing this with that
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  Speaker 2: and this authority with that authority and this scribe with
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  Speaker 2: that Pharisee. No, he had a message from God. And
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  Speaker 2: as he spoke, he spoke it with clarity and passion, enthusiasm, depth.
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  Speaker 2: They were amazed. Remember this. Teaching that comes across like
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  Speaker 2: that is not the work of a simple, simply a professional.
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  Speaker 2: That's the work of an original. We've all seen copies
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  Speaker 2: of art, but there's something priceless about an original canvas.
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  Speaker 2: This came from the artist's fingers. Harry Ironside, another name
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  Speaker 2: from the past, was preaching at Moody Church, where he
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  Speaker 2: had preached for years, and a visitor came that day
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  Speaker 2: and heard him preach, and afterwards he walked up to
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  Speaker 2: the pastor, and they greeted one another, and He mentioned
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  Speaker 2: that he did not think Ironside was a great preacher,
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  Speaker 2: but he found his words remarkably compelling. Ironside replied with
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  Speaker 2: no embarrassment, I know I'm not a great preacher, but
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  Speaker 2: what was it about my preaching that brought you to
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  Speaker 2: that conclusion? The man answered, because I understood everything you said. Sometimes,
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  Speaker 2: to quote Dr. Dwight Pentecost, some preachers can say nothing beautifully.
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  Speaker 2: And you walk away going, wow, what was it he said?
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  Speaker 2: And 20 minutes later, for the life of you, you
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  Speaker 2: can't recall. This man remembered because it was clear, it
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  Speaker 2: was authentic, it was direct. And what a compliment, not
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  Speaker 2: an insult. You're not one of these professional preachers. You
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  Speaker 2: speak from God.
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  Speaker 1: There's real power in truth spoken clearly. When God's Word
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  Speaker 1: is delivered with clarity and authenticity, it doesn't just impress us,
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  Speaker 1: it stays with us, and it changes us. That's the
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  Speaker 1: kind of teaching that draws people in and points them
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  Speaker 1: to Christ. What a gift when we understand exactly what
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  Speaker 1: we've heard. You're listening to Insight for Living with Chuck Swindoll.
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  Speaker 1: He titled today's message, Astonishing Authority. It's number four in
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  Speaker 1: a comprehensive study through the entire book of Mark. To
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: purchase Bible study resources for Mark, including the Searching the
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  Speaker 1: Scriptures Bible Study Workbooks, go to insight.org slash offer. Just
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: to let you know, the release of Chuck Swindoll's personal
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  Speaker 1: memoir is happening this week, and you're invited to be
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  Speaker 1: among the first to receive this transparent account of Chuck's
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  Speaker 1: life by purchasing your personal copy. It's called Awakened by Grace.
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  Speaker 1: For more than 60 years, Chuck has opened God's Word
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  Speaker 1: and opened his heart. Now in his new memoir, Awakened
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  Speaker 1: by Grace, he opens the story of his own life,
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  Speaker 1: the trials, the joys, and the moments when grace found
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  Speaker 1: him when he least expected it. This is Chuck as
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  Speaker 1: you've never heard him before. Honest, tender, and unforgettable. It's
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  Speaker 1: a once-in-a-lifetime testimony of a lifetime of faithfulness. When you
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• 26:21
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• 26:27
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• 27:11
  Speaker 2: I'm Bill Meyer.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Join us again when Chuck Swindoll continues his comprehensive study
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: through the Gospel of Mark, Monday on Insight for Living.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: The preceding message, Astonishing Authority, was copyrighted in 2010 and 2026,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 27:34
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  Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.