Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Affirming the Afflicted, Part 2
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: When someone you love is hurt, confused, and uncertain about tomorrow,
- 0:12Speaker 1: what do they need the most? Not pity, not a lecture,
- 0:16Speaker 1: not even good advice. What the afflicted person needs is affirmation.
- 0:21Speaker 1: Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindaul continues his study
- 0:24Speaker 1: in the book of Second Thessalonians, showing us how the
- 0:27Speaker 1: apostle Paul responded to a frightened congregation. He didn't criticize
- 0:32Speaker 1: or mock the church. He offered thanksgiving and genuine pride.
- 0:37Speaker 1: Chuck titled this message Affirming the Afflicted. It's the first
- 0:41Speaker 1: message in an eight part study called Steadfast Christianity.
- 0:53Speaker 2: Turn back to chapter three of Second Thessalonians. Look at
- 0:56Speaker 2: verse seventy, I, Paul, write this greeting with mine own hand,
- 1:05Speaker 2: And this is a distinguishing mark in every letter. This
- 1:12Speaker 2: is the way I write. Did you know that that
- 1:14Speaker 2: was in the Bible? I didn't, And I've read this
- 1:18Speaker 2: a number of times, and I'd never stumbled across this
- 1:21Speaker 2: is the way I write. Everyone has his or her
- 1:26Speaker 2: own distinguishing handwriting. And if that person writes you enough,
- 1:30Speaker 2: you don't even have to look and see who wrote
- 1:32Speaker 2: the letter, because you know the handwriting Paul says, I
- 1:37Speaker 2: have a distinguishing handwriting. I have a distinguishing style. And
- 1:41Speaker 2: if you ever want to check if this letter is mine,
- 1:43Speaker 2: check it with this letter, check it with this signature.
- 1:46Speaker 2: This is the way I write. Before we find out
- 1:50Speaker 2: why that was so important, you might ask yourself, well,
- 1:53Speaker 2: what's the big deal about these forty seven verses? Are
- 1:55Speaker 2: they really that important? Look up from verse seventeen to
- 2:01Speaker 2: verse fourteen. I think after I read this verse, you'll
- 2:04Speaker 2: say it's pretty important. If anyone does not obey our
- 2:08Speaker 2: instruction in this letter, take special note of that man
- 2:14Speaker 2: and do not associate with him, so that he may
- 2:17Speaker 2: be put to shame. Yeah, I'd say that's pretty important letter.
- 2:21Speaker 2: This is one of those rare letters, and he doesn't
- 2:24Speaker 2: have many of them, where he literally says, if you
- 2:28Speaker 2: find someone who won't walk according to this truth, back off.
- 2:35Speaker 2: But he adds in grace, don't regard him as an enemy,
- 2:39Speaker 2: admonish him as a brother. I'd say it's a significant letter. Now,
- 2:45Speaker 2: why is there a second letter to the Thessalonians. In brief,
- 2:51Speaker 2: he wrote second Thessalonians to clear up a misunderstanding. That's
- 2:56Speaker 2: the purpose. You see. He had said a lot about
- 3:00Speaker 2: the Lord's return in the First Letter, chapter five. Go
- 3:05Speaker 2: back there, will you first Thessalonians, Chapter five. You'll see
- 3:10Speaker 2: what he says about the coming of the Lord Verse
- 3:14Speaker 2: two of chapter five. You yourselves know full well that the
- 3:18Speaker 2: day of the Lord will come just like a thief
- 3:20Speaker 2: in the night. While they are saying peace and safety,
- 3:24Speaker 2: then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like birth pangs
- 3:29Speaker 2: upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
- 3:33Speaker 2: Note the change in pronouns. But you, brethren, are not
- 3:39Speaker 2: in darkness that that day should overtake you like a thief.
- 3:45Speaker 2: For you are all sons of light and sons of day.
- 3:47Speaker 2: We are not of night nor of darkness. So then
- 3:50Speaker 2: let us not sleep as others do. But let us
- 3:53Speaker 2: be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their
- 3:56Speaker 2: sleeping at night, and those who get drunk drunk at night.
- 4:00Speaker 2: But since we are of the day, let us be sober,
- 4:04Speaker 2: having put on the breastplate of faith and love and
- 4:07Speaker 2: as a helmet the hope of salvation. He's getting into
- 4:10Speaker 2: the sense of urgency, and he says, let's be alert,
- 4:13Speaker 2: Let's get a little rapture fever. Let's remember that any
- 4:16Speaker 2: day now the clouds will split, There'll be a blast
- 4:19Speaker 2: of the trumpet, and the Lord himself will descend from
- 4:22Speaker 2: heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel
- 4:25Speaker 2: and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ
- 4:27Speaker 2: will be rised first. That day is upon us. Be alert.
- 4:32Speaker 2: After that letter arrived and they read it, would you
- 4:36Speaker 2: believe that a word began to travel among them within
- 4:39Speaker 2: days that they had missed the coming of the Lord.
- 4:45Speaker 2: He said, Oh, how could they put it? Well, you
- 4:47Speaker 2: know how tak goes in a church and somebody spill
- 4:51Speaker 2: the beans from some Well, look at how he puts
- 4:53Speaker 2: it in chapter two of Second Thessalonians. It didn't just
- 4:59Speaker 2: occur in someone's mind. There was an actual, active deception
- 5:03Speaker 2: that had occurred against the church at Thesalonaika. Second Thessalonians two. One.
- 5:09Speaker 2: Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming
- 5:12Speaker 2: of our Lord, Jesus Christ. There's one of those times
- 5:14Speaker 2: his full name appears, and are gathering together to him,
- 5:18Speaker 2: that you may not be quickly shaken. That's why he
- 5:20Speaker 2: wrote the letter. I don't want you all shook up
- 5:24Speaker 2: from your composure or be disturbed either by market, a
- 5:28Speaker 2: spirit or a message or a letter, as if from
- 5:34Speaker 2: us to the effect that the day of the Lord
- 5:37Speaker 2: has come. Got the drift in one of three ways.
- 5:43Speaker 2: The people had begun to believe that they had missed
- 5:45Speaker 2: the coming of the Lord. Some had said that there
- 5:49Speaker 2: was a letter that had arrived as if from him.
- 5:52Speaker 2: There are some New Testament scholars that believe that there
- 5:56Speaker 2: actually was a forged letter that arrived in Thessalonaika. The
- 6:00Speaker 2: city is known today as Thessaloniki, still in existence in Greece.
- 6:06Speaker 2: Somebody had sent a letter and it had been signed
- 6:08Speaker 2: by Paul, allegedly. So when he signs this letter, he says,
- 6:15Speaker 2: this is the way I write. You can check this
- 6:17Speaker 2: writing with that letter seems to imply that, by the way,
- 6:23Speaker 2: this is a real good time for me to pause
- 6:25Speaker 2: and say a couple of practical things about misunderstandings in
- 6:29Speaker 2: the church. People still spread messages that are not true,
- 6:36Speaker 2: don't they. We tend to do that in a weak moment.
- 6:43Speaker 2: So I'm going to draw from just the overview of
- 6:47Speaker 2: what we've seen thus far a couple of very practical
- 6:50Speaker 2: pieces of advice. First is this, if you have been misunderstood,
- 6:55Speaker 2: don't delay in trying to clear it up. Paul didn't
- 7:00Speaker 2: wait very long. One of my sources said it was
- 7:04Speaker 2: within days that he wrote. Second, Thessalonians don't just let
- 7:08Speaker 2: the information continue to gather a speed and momentum. If
- 7:14Speaker 2: you hear there's a rumor out, go to the source.
- 7:16Speaker 2: If you can't find the source, go to someone who
- 7:19Speaker 2: who heard that rumor and correct it. Second, and it's
- 7:24Speaker 2: a little bit more serious here. If you hear information,
- 7:31Speaker 2: be clear when you pass it on. In fact, it's
- 7:35Speaker 2: good not even to pass it on at all, especially
- 7:39Speaker 2: if it is slanderous or if it's technical and there's
- 7:42Speaker 2: some details you may not get right and you really
- 7:45Speaker 2: want to pass it. Ask for permission. That usually makes
- 7:49Speaker 2: them go when you ask permission, but you write down
- 7:52Speaker 2: the details and you say, can I quote you? So
- 7:58Speaker 2: if you're going to pass information on, get the stuff straight.
- 8:03Speaker 2: It's amazing how it can get garbled. I came across
- 8:06Speaker 2: an interesting example of this. The original order from the
- 8:09Speaker 2: colonel to his executive officer was tomorrow evening at approximately
- 8:16Speaker 2: twenty hundred hours. Halle's comment will be visible in this area,
- 8:21Speaker 2: an event which occurs only once every seventy five years.
- 8:25Speaker 2: Have the men fall out in the battalion area in fatigues,
- 8:29Speaker 2: and I will explain this rare phenomenon to them. In
- 8:32Speaker 2: case of rain, we will not be able to see anything,
- 8:35Speaker 2: So assemble the men in the theater and I will
- 8:37Speaker 2: show them films of it. That's the message Executive Officer
- 8:43Speaker 2: to the company commander. By the order of the Colonel.
- 8:47Speaker 2: Tomorrow at twenty hundred hours, Halle's comment will appear above
- 8:51Speaker 2: the battalion area. If it rains fall the men out
- 8:55Speaker 2: in fatigus, then march to the theater where the rare
- 8:59Speaker 2: phenomenon will take place, something which occurs only once every
- 9:02Speaker 2: seventy five years. From the co to the Lieutenant by
- 9:08Speaker 2: order of the Colonel Infatigues at twenty hundred hours tomorrow evening,
- 9:13Speaker 2: the phenomenal Holly's comment will appear in the theater. In
- 9:17Speaker 2: case of rain in the battalion area, the Colonel will
- 9:19Speaker 2: give another order something which occurs once every seventy five years.
- 9:26Speaker 2: Oh that's great, now, here's the next one. From the
- 9:29Speaker 2: Lieutenant to the sergeant. Tomorrow at twenty hundred hours, the
- 9:33Speaker 2: Colonel Infatigues will appear in the theater with Holly's comic,
- 9:40Speaker 2: something which happens every seventy five years. If it rains,
- 9:46Speaker 2: the Colonel will order the comet into the battalion area. Finally,
- 9:51Speaker 2: the sergeant to the squad if I can get through it.
- 9:59Speaker 2: When it rains tomorrow borrow at twenty hundred hours, the
- 10:03Speaker 2: phenomenal seventy five year old General Howe, accompanied by the Colonel,
- 10:11Speaker 2: will drive his comment through the battalion area. They will
- 10:16Speaker 2: both be wearing fatigues. Oh gosh, it's crazy. Now. You
- 10:28Speaker 2: know you have within your power the ability to strengthen
- 10:35Speaker 2: the unity of an assembly or to weaken it, and
- 10:39Speaker 2: so do I. Usually the strengthening or the weakening process
- 10:44Speaker 2: is related to information we receive that is important and
- 10:50Speaker 2: often damaging, and usually exaggerated. I don't know how many
- 10:57Speaker 2: times I have checked facts, and I did that just
- 11:00Speaker 2: this past week with the brother I love, and there
- 11:03Speaker 2: was something being passed around about him that was hard
- 11:06Speaker 2: to believe, and I went to him and I asked
- 11:10Speaker 2: for the facts. It is amazing how in the process
- 11:14Speaker 2: of only a couple or three sets of mouths and ears,
- 11:18Speaker 2: the message was garbled. So I don't think we need
- 11:22Speaker 2: to be too surprised that they thought they missed the
- 11:25Speaker 2: coming of the Lord, because the message had been garbled
- 11:31Speaker 2: or perhaps even deliberately deceiving from some source. What are
- 11:40Speaker 2: the contents of this letter? I always like to give
- 11:43Speaker 2: him sort of a flight over an area to get
- 11:46Speaker 2: the feeling. Like you take an elevator to the top
- 11:49Speaker 2: of the tallest building in a city when you first
- 11:51Speaker 2: arrive you're going to live there, You like to look
- 11:53Speaker 2: around and get the kind of the lay of the land.
- 11:56Speaker 2: This is north, and this is south, and this is
- 11:59Speaker 2: where the river, this is where the commercial district is
- 12:02Speaker 2: your residential district. Oil here. That's what I want to
- 12:04Speaker 2: do for just a little bit of time. Second, Thessalonians
- 12:08Speaker 2: is rich with significance. Notice in the first chapter there
- 12:13Speaker 2: is a tone of affirmation. These people are trudging through
- 12:17Speaker 2: the mud and the muck of affliction. They're not only
- 12:22Speaker 2: confused about their theology, they're disturbed about their physical safety.
- 12:27Speaker 2: And Paul affirms them. It's a wonderful, wonderful chapter of affirmation,
- 12:33Speaker 2: and he he stirs up their hearts with strong words
- 12:38Speaker 2: of confidence. And we're going to see that as we
- 12:41Speaker 2: work our way through. In the second chapter, he turns
- 12:45Speaker 2: to an explanation of this misunderstanding. Look, for example, that's
- 12:50Speaker 2: some clarifying remarks, he says, the day of the Lord
- 12:53Speaker 2: hasn't come first, there must be verse three the apostasy, apostasy.
- 13:01Speaker 2: There's a whole system of apostate events that will occur
- 13:06Speaker 2: men and women, And that hasn't occurred. Well, not yet.
- 13:11Speaker 2: You have not missed anything. It has not yet happened.
- 13:14Speaker 2: And continuing in verse three, the man of lawlessness is revealed,
- 13:19Speaker 2: the son of destruction. This is the man commonly called Antichrist.
- 13:25Speaker 2: And we'll have a good time digging into that. Be
- 13:28Speaker 2: careful about identifying the man of lawlessness. All kinds of
- 13:33Speaker 2: books have been written that are now not worth a
- 13:35Speaker 2: twot because they were all built on the identification of
- 13:38Speaker 2: the man of lawlessness. Many people felt it was a Hitler,
- 13:43Speaker 2: and then he died, and them stalin and he died,
- 13:47Speaker 2: and then some even said it was John Kennedy and
- 13:52Speaker 2: he was killed. And then I've heard recently, Kissinger, it's
- 13:56Speaker 2: another man of lawlessness. And I heard the unbelievable systems
- 14:01Speaker 2: of numbers tied in with how to identify this thing.
- 14:05Speaker 2: And if you push the numbering system, you'd prove anybody
- 14:08Speaker 2: is a man of lawlessness. I got a theory laid
- 14:11Speaker 2: on my desk several years ago, and I put the
- 14:14Speaker 2: theory to work, and it's spelled swindle, and I knew
- 14:17Speaker 2: that that isn't gonna I'm not the man of lawlessness.
- 14:20Speaker 2: To the surprise of some people, that man of lawlessness
- 14:24Speaker 2: has to be revealed. He'll come on the surface. Look
- 14:30Speaker 2: at verse seven. There'll have to be in the mystery
- 14:34Speaker 2: of lawlessness, the one who restrains taken out of the way.
- 14:38Speaker 2: See the way he says it. He hasn't been taken
- 14:40Speaker 2: out of the way. We'll do our best to identify
- 14:42Speaker 2: the restrainer of verse seven. All of this deception verse ten,
- 14:48Speaker 2: the deception of wickedness will be in process. So he
- 14:53Speaker 2: puts their mind at ease. In chapter two, I'm so
- 14:57Speaker 2: glad we have that chapter in our bibles. Chapter one
- 15:01Speaker 2: could be called Persevering through affliction. Chapter two could be
- 15:05Speaker 2: called Trusting in the midst of confusion. Chapter three, what
- 15:11Speaker 2: a great ballot. Some of these people had gotten so
- 15:14Speaker 2: attached to the coming of the Lord teaching that they
- 15:17Speaker 2: stopped working. Sound familiar. Some of you have people in
- 15:22Speaker 2: your family who have gotten so fanatical about Christianity, and
- 15:27Speaker 2: especially about prophecy, that they begun to mooch off of
- 15:30Speaker 2: members of your family or someone else that they know
- 15:34Speaker 2: can help support them. And Paul gives a direct piece
- 15:38Speaker 2: of advice to those people who went crazy with prophecy
- 15:44Speaker 2: Verse six, chapter three. We command you, brethren, in the
- 15:47Speaker 2: name of our Lord Jesus Christ. There it is again
- 15:51Speaker 2: that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an
- 15:54Speaker 2: unruly life, not according to the tradition which you receive
- 15:58Speaker 2: from us. Watch out for those people. You yourselves know
- 16:02Speaker 2: how you ought to follow our example. Then he describes
- 16:05Speaker 2: it when Paul was among them. We didn't act in
- 16:08Speaker 2: an undisciplined manner among you. Neither did we eat anyone's
- 16:13Speaker 2: bread without paying for it. But with labor and hardship
- 16:17Speaker 2: we worked. We kept working night and day, that we
- 16:21Speaker 2: might not be a burden to any of you. Not
- 16:23Speaker 2: because we didn't have the right to this. I was
- 16:26Speaker 2: an apostle, but in order to offer ourselves as a
- 16:30Speaker 2: model for you, that you might follow our example. And
- 16:33Speaker 2: then he gives a statement that I must have heard
- 16:36Speaker 2: my father say three dozen times in my growing up
- 16:39Speaker 2: years Verse ten. If anyone will not work, neither let
- 16:44Speaker 2: him eat. That's one of those mottos that I remember
- 16:47Speaker 2: from those years past, and that's biblical. If you plan
- 16:51Speaker 2: to eat, then you got to work. And no amount
- 16:55Speaker 2: of great theology get you away from the responsibility of
- 16:59Speaker 2: earning a living. And he lays that on them. In fact,
- 17:04Speaker 2: he makes it so strong. You remember we read earlier.
- 17:06Speaker 2: If anyone denies what I've written in this letter, stay
- 17:11Speaker 2: away from him. Now, all of that is well and good.
- 17:15Speaker 2: That's great theory, unless you're up to your waste and alligators,
- 17:20Speaker 2: which is where they were. These people were walking through
- 17:26Speaker 2: the fire. I mean, a virtual hell on earth had
- 17:31Speaker 2: broken out in Thessalonika. You don't see it. You don't
- 17:36Speaker 2: find any blood or reference to such on the pages
- 17:41Speaker 2: of First or Second Thessalonians. But it's there. Believe it's there.
- 17:47Speaker 2: These people are really under the gun. And so what
- 17:51Speaker 2: do they need. Well, they don't need judgment, they don't
- 17:56Speaker 2: need criticism, they don't even need pity. They need affirmation.
- 18:04Speaker 2: A good principle to remember when you are with people
- 18:07Speaker 2: who are afflicted. Affirm. There is one wonderful response to
- 18:14Speaker 2: people who are going through affliction, and that's affirmation. That's
- 18:19Speaker 2: what we find when we go back to chapter one.
- 18:23Speaker 2: It's a great way to begin a letter to people
- 18:27Speaker 2: who were a hurting, be confused, and see really uncertain
- 18:34Speaker 2: about tomorrow, he affirms them it works like magic. Dostevsky
- 18:41Speaker 2: said on one occasion, to love a person means to
- 18:44Speaker 2: see him as God intended him to be. And that's
- 18:48Speaker 2: how Paul sees them. Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy to
- 18:56Speaker 2: the Church of the Thessalonians. In God, our Father and
- 18:59Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus Christ. What a way to begin. He
- 19:03Speaker 2: doesn't say to people who are down and out, to
- 19:07Speaker 2: folks I feel sorry for to some people who have
- 19:11Speaker 2: lost members of their family, to folks who have been
- 19:15Speaker 2: torn apart by confusion and deception. Oh, he tells them
- 19:20Speaker 2: right away of the security that there is in God,
- 19:23Speaker 2: the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Every once in
- 19:27Speaker 2: a while, just as an aside, every once in a while,
- 19:31Speaker 2: when you write a letter, add a word of reassurance
- 19:34Speaker 2: to the person receiving the letter regarding his security in
- 19:39Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus. Just a reminder, just throw it in
- 19:43Speaker 2: on the side. They don't need a sermon, but they
- 19:47Speaker 2: may need a reminder that in the Lord Jesus, everything
- 19:52Speaker 2: is under control, everything is secure. And then he tells
- 19:57Speaker 2: him of the two well pinions upon which that security rests,
- 20:03Speaker 2: grace verse two and peace verse two, both from God
- 20:10Speaker 2: the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. And then
- 20:14Speaker 2: right out of the shoot he says, we ought always
- 20:19Speaker 2: to give thanks to God for you, brethren. I love
- 20:24Speaker 2: that response. The last time you were really hurting, I
- 20:33Speaker 2: mean really low, and you got just enough courage to
- 20:38Speaker 2: get dressed on that Sunday morning, and maybe it didn't
- 20:43Speaker 2: even take the time to tuck your Bible under your arm.
- 20:46Speaker 2: But you've found your way to a place of worship,
- 20:49Speaker 2: and you set down and you were quiet. Can you
- 20:54Speaker 2: remember an arm that reached around you and pulled you
- 20:57Speaker 2: up close? Are some who had the courage to take
- 21:02Speaker 2: your face in their hands and hold your close and
- 21:06Speaker 2: to tell you how much they believe in you. It
- 21:11Speaker 2: might have been that week that you had the worst
- 21:14Speaker 2: argument you've ever had at home. Or it might have
- 21:17Speaker 2: been that week that the bottom literally dropped and you
- 21:23Speaker 2: lost your job, or the threat of losing your job
- 21:27Speaker 2: was upon you, or your daughter or son had been
- 21:31Speaker 2: picked on and it was not deserved. Or that thing
- 21:38Speaker 2: that's plagued you so long came back to the surface.
- 21:42Speaker 2: You lost it again with this battle you have with
- 21:45Speaker 2: drugs or with booze, and you're under affliction. Remember the
- 21:53Speaker 2: value of a word of affirmation. Affirmation is the right
- 21:57Speaker 2: word at the right time, spoken in love. That's what
- 22:01Speaker 2: he does. Mark Twain says, I can go in the
- 22:05Speaker 2: strength of one affirming compliment three full weeks. How many
- 22:11Speaker 2: people are going in the strength of your compliment for
- 22:14Speaker 2: the next three weeks? Boy, these Thessalonians could we ought
- 22:21Speaker 2: always to give thanks to God for you brethren. Now
- 22:25Speaker 2: this ministry of affirmation, I don't say very much about it,
- 22:28Speaker 2: so I want to camp on it for a few moments.
- 22:31Speaker 2: Don't worry. It never results in making the afflicted proud.
- 22:35Speaker 2: Afflicted people don't get proud. It doesn't cause arrogance or laziness.
- 22:41Speaker 2: It makes people want to do better and try harder.
- 22:45Speaker 2: It doesn't hurt their walk with Christ. It helps it.
- 22:49Speaker 2: It doesn't pull them down, It sets them up. They
- 22:52Speaker 2: leave remembering that better than they'll ever remember a sermon.
- 22:56Speaker 2: Paul says, it's only fitting that I do that. I mean,
- 22:59Speaker 2: it's it's not an option. Your life calls for it.
- 23:03Speaker 2: What was it? Your faith is greatly enlarged See in
- 23:07Speaker 2: verse three This is why you affirm them, why he
- 23:10Speaker 2: gave thanks. Your faith has been stretched and it's growing,
- 23:15Speaker 2: and the love of each one of you, all toward
- 23:18Speaker 2: one another grows greater. Now I want to make an observation.
- 23:24Speaker 2: It's going to make you smile, but I've got a
- 23:26Speaker 2: reason for making it. The observation is this. Verse three
- 23:31Speaker 2: follows verse two. See I heard you laugh at me,
- 23:36Speaker 2: but I want you to see why that's important. The
- 23:38Speaker 2: Lord Jesus Christ is the focus of verse two, and
- 23:43Speaker 2: diving out of that thought, he affirms them in verse three.
- 23:48Speaker 2: Here's the principle. Divine perspective gives us the impetus to
- 23:56Speaker 2: affirm others. He looked at their situation, only he could
- 24:02Speaker 2: have only sighed and said, I'm so sorry. Had he
- 24:07Speaker 2: visited them and seen the fresh grave of a loved one,
- 24:12Speaker 2: he would have wept, said I pity you. But through
- 24:16Speaker 2: the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ, who never releases
- 24:21Speaker 2: a test without purpose, he saw meaning in their faith
- 24:29Speaker 2: being stretched. He saw purpose in their love growing stronger.
- 24:42Speaker 1: That kind of sensitivity and insight made the apostle Paul
- 24:45Speaker 1: a world class leader. You're listening to the Bible teaching
- 24:49Speaker 1: of Chuck Swindaul, and this is Insight for Living. We're
- 24:52Speaker 1: just getting started with an eight part series through Paul's
- 24:55Speaker 1: second letter to the Thessalonians. It's a series Chuck titled
- 24:59Speaker 1: Steadfast Christianity. If you miss any portion of this message,
- 25:03Speaker 1: remember you can catch up by streaming the program at
- 25:07Speaker 1: Insight dot org slash broadcast. One of Paul's overarching themes
- 25:12Speaker 1: in this letter is leadership. Paul was the mentor to
- 25:15Speaker 1: these young believers, just as Niemiyah was a leader to
- 25:18Speaker 1: the construction crew in Jerusalem. Remember that Old Testament story.
- 25:23Speaker 1: The wall around their city was nothing but rubble. The
- 25:26Speaker 1: town was exposed, and the opposition was fierce. But Namiyah
- 25:30Speaker 1: had a vision, a plan, and an unshakable confidence in God.
- 25:34Speaker 1: In just fifty two days, the impossible got done. Today,
- 25:39Speaker 1: we'd like to send you Chuck's book Hand Me Another Brick.
- 25:42Speaker 1: In it, he unpacks the leadership genius of Nehemiah and
- 25:46Speaker 1: shows you how those same principles can work in your church,
- 25:49Speaker 1: your ministry, and your life today. This is one of
- 25:52Speaker 1: Chuck's most beloved classics, and it's our gift to you
- 25:54Speaker 1: when you support Insight for Living with a generous donation.
- 25:58Speaker 1: You can request the book online at insight dot org
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- 26:08Speaker 1: Living post Office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five
- 26:14Speaker 1: oh three four. That's post office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas,
- 26:20Speaker 1: seven five o three four. On Monday's program, Chuck finished
- 26:24Speaker 1: our study in First Thessalonians. Then the following day he
- 26:27Speaker 1: started this study in Second Thessalonians. Both Searching the Scripture's
- 26:32Speaker 1: Bible study workbooks are available for purchase today. These are
- 26:36Speaker 1: spiral bound resources that lay flat on your lap or
- 26:39Speaker 1: on the table, where you can easily take notes as
- 26:41Speaker 1: you read through Paul's two letters. To have them send
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- 26:51Speaker 1: insight dot org slash offer how should you respond when
- 27:03Speaker 1: suffering is relentless? I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuckswyndall
- 27:07Speaker 1: provides a Biblical answer Thursday on Insight for Living. The
- 27:14Speaker 1: preceding message Affirming the Afflicted was copyrighted in nineteen eighty six,
- 27:19Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one, two thousand and two and twenty twenty four,
- 27:22Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four
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