Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – After the Ache . . . Celebrate!, Part 2

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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – After the Ache . . . Celebrate!, Part 2 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Many of us handle hard times better than good ones.
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  Speaker 1: We're almost more comfortable with struggle than with rest, with
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  Speaker 1: mourning rather than joy. Strange, isn't it? But Chuck Swindall
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  Speaker 1: says there's a reason for that, and a remedy today
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  Speaker 1: on inside for living. Chuck shows us why God doesn't
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  Speaker 1: just want to heal your pain. He wants to transform
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  Speaker 1: it into something you'll carry forward with gratitude. Teaching from
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  Speaker 1: Ester chapter nine, Chuck titled his message after the ache Celebrate.
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  Speaker 2: But I read verses seventeen, eighteen and nineteen. I read
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  Speaker 2: about a people who decided, let's name this day a
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  Speaker 2: day for a holiday.
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  Speaker 3: Let's call it purim.
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  Speaker 2: All this annihilation of the enemies was done on the
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  Speaker 2: thirteenth day of the month are and on the fourteenth
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  Speaker 2: day they rested. Of course, they made it a day
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  Speaker 2: of feasting and rejoicing.
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  Speaker 3: How appropriate.
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  Speaker 2: The Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth
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  Speaker 2: and the fourteenth day of the same month, they rested
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  Speaker 2: on the fifteenth day.
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  Speaker 3: Took them a little longer to kill their enemies, and
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  Speaker 3: they made.
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  Speaker 2: It the day of feasting and rejoicing. How appropriate, how good? Therefore,
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  Speaker 2: the Jews of the rural areas. Who live in the
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  Speaker 2: rural towns make the fourteenth day of the month got
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  Speaker 2: Are a holiday for rejoicing and feasting and sending portions
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  Speaker 2: of food to one another. It reminds me of the
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  Speaker 2: spontaneous celebration that occurred shortly after Jamestown and Plymouth. But
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  Speaker 2: after enduring the bitterness of winter, the early forefathers of
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  Speaker 2: our great country decided to kill a few wild turkeys
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  Speaker 2: and in kind of ovens to bake fine cakes and pies,
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  Speaker 2: and to pull from the land some of the produce
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  Speaker 2: and from the sea some of the fish, and have
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  Speaker 2: a feast to celebrate a giving of thanks to God
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  Speaker 2: for surviving the awful winters.
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  Speaker 3: Of the past.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't official until the governor of Massachusetts made it
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  Speaker 2: official in their New England. But until then it was
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  Speaker 2: a spontaneous celebration of praise. It was their purim. Those
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  Speaker 2: in the old country said, you will never make it,
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  Speaker 2: you will regret it, And it was their thanksgiving to
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  Speaker 2: God for changing their sorrow into joy. It becomes official
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  Speaker 2: at verse twenty down through verse twenty eight. And how
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  Speaker 2: significant these words appear. Mordecai, whom I believe the Book
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  Speaker 2: of Esther recorded these events, and he sent letters to
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  Speaker 2: all the Jews who were in all the provinces of
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  Speaker 2: King of Haajuaras, both near and far. Now, take notice
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  Speaker 2: of several things in this present time. First of all,
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  Speaker 2: noticed the date of the celebration, obliging them to celebrate
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  Speaker 2: the fourteenth day of the month and the fifteenth day
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  Speaker 2: of the same month annually. So it was to be
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  Speaker 2: an annual holiday. Two holidays, really, the thirteenth and the fourteenth. Next,
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  Speaker 2: notice the reason for the holiday, because on those days
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  Speaker 2: the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was
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  Speaker 2: a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness,
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  Speaker 2: from morning into a holiday. You see, they had already
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  Speaker 2: planned who would be buried where, and who would die
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  Speaker 2: and howl. I mean the families that perhaps rehearsed it
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  Speaker 2: in their mind and over the dinner table. They knew
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  Speaker 2: it was coming until God intervened. And now they chose
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  Speaker 2: the very days when they would have been annihilated and exterminated,
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  Speaker 2: and they turned those days from a sadness in mourning
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  Speaker 2: to rejoicing in celebration. It was to acknowledge the change
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  Speaker 2: of events. That's the reason for this time of celebration.
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  Speaker 2: Look at the expression of it. Twenty two continues that
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  Speaker 2: they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing, and
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  Speaker 2: sending portions of food to one another and gifts to
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  Speaker 2: the poor. This is all being written into the record.
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  Speaker 2: This is the way it will be for the Jews
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  Speaker 2: from henceforth. Then the name of the holiday. Thus the
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  Speaker 2: Jews undertook what they had started to do and what
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  Speaker 2: Mordecai had written to them. For Haman, the son of Haimedatha,
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  Speaker 2: the Hagagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed
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  Speaker 2: against them to destroy them, and had cast poor. That
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  Speaker 2: is the lot, to disturb them and to destroy them.
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  Speaker 2: And when it came to the king's attention, he commanded
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  Speaker 2: by letter that his wicked scheme, which he had devised
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  Speaker 2: against the Jews, should return on his own head, and
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  Speaker 2: that he and his son should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore,
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  Speaker 2: call these days Perim after the name of Poor. And
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  Speaker 2: because of the instructions in this letter, both what they
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  Speaker 2: had seen in this regard and what had happened to them,
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  Speaker 2: let it be written the custom was to take place annually.
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  Speaker 2: The Jews established and made a custom for themselves and
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  Speaker 2: for their descendants, for all who allied themselves with them.
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  Speaker 2: Look at this, so that they should not fail to mourn,
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  Speaker 2: no to celebrate, to celebrate two days according to their
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  Speaker 2: regulation and according to their appointed time.
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  Speaker 3: Annually.
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  Speaker 2: Ask many people what the book of Esther represents. They
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  Speaker 2: will tell you it's a book of tragedy. I don't
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  Speaker 2: read tragedy in Esther. They will tell you it's the
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  Speaker 2: early Holocaust. There's no holocaust in Esther, threat of a holocaust?
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  Speaker 2: Do you know this is the only book the Jews
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  Speaker 2: can turn to to find of roots for their holidays
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  Speaker 2: of Purim? Do you know when they still to this
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  Speaker 2: day read from the scrolls of Esther that little children
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  Speaker 2: and young adults and old alike, when the name Hayman
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  Speaker 2: is mentioned, they pound on their on their desks, and
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  Speaker 2: they pound on tables, and even with shoes, they pound
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  Speaker 2: on pieces of wood, boo and hiss, and then others.
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  Speaker 2: When they announce Mordecai and Esther, they cheer and they.
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  Speaker 3: Shout voices with the voices of joy.
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  Speaker 2: In honor of Esther's It's a reenactment of the story
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  Speaker 2: of triumph. It's called Purim look at twenty eight. Here's
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  Speaker 2: the purpose. So these days were to be remembered and
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  Speaker 2: celebrated throughout every generation. And by the way, it's still
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  Speaker 2: going on every family, every and every city.
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  Speaker 3: And these days.
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  Speaker 2: If purium were not to fail from among the Jews,
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  Speaker 2: or their memory faded from their descendants, there it is.
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  Speaker 2: You know, in two or three generations, nobody would have
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  Speaker 2: remembered pureim Oh, only a few. But it's like talking
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  Speaker 2: to today's generation about the difficulties of World War two
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  Speaker 2: and they listen, they smile.
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  Speaker 3: A bit or cock their head to the side.
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  Speaker 2: And they have no memory of what many of us
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  Speaker 2: call the Great War. You know, in another generation there
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  Speaker 2: will Vietnam will just be a place on the map.
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  Speaker 2: There will be no memory, there will be no sense
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  Speaker 2: of anguish, no sadness over loss, even the emotion would
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  Speaker 2: be gone if it weren't for the establishment of a celebration.
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  Speaker 2: You see, this is the reason many of us she
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  Speaker 2: ate a return to Washington, d C. A city of
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  Speaker 2: memorials and monuments. Don't you love going there? It is
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  Speaker 2: one city that has not considered monuments and extravagance. A
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  Speaker 2: number of years ago, my daughter and I jogged early
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  Speaker 2: one morning in Washington, d C. It was in the summer,
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  Speaker 2: The sun was just coming up, and we ran from
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  Speaker 2: our hotel down to the Washington Monument. It turned and
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  Speaker 2: along the lagoon to the Lincoln Memorial, and then over
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  Speaker 2: and around the Jefferson Memorial, and then back down to
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  Speaker 2: the Vietnam Memorial. At each memorial we slowed apace and
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  Speaker 2: we talked as we ran together. We rehearsed a bit
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  Speaker 2: of the life or a bit of the history that
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  Speaker 2: that memorial represented. Memorials represent places to stand and to
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  Speaker 2: be quiet, to read and to reflect, and to pass
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  Speaker 2: on to the next generation, the roots of a nation's heritage.
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  Speaker 2: They give the past significance because they give the past perspective.
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  Speaker 3: Men and women. My one of my main.
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  Speaker 2: Fears of life and life style where most of us live,
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  Speaker 2: is that we have so few memorials, so few monuments,
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  Speaker 2: even mental monuments. Life has lived in the fast lane,
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  Speaker 2: quick decisions, quick money, fast action, strong competition, so little
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  Speaker 2: time spent stopping and recording and learning. Have you observed
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  Speaker 2: that a divorce can come and sweep across a family
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  Speaker 2: and break it in and bruise it, and life goes
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  Speaker 2: right on that a young woman can get an abortion,
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  Speaker 2: and those who know cluck their tongues, frowned, shake their head,
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  Speaker 2: and life goes on. And she later regrets it with
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  Speaker 2: words she cannot even utter. But life goes on. And
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  Speaker 2: for another there's a financial reversal and a business fails,
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  Speaker 2: and life goes on. And still another there's a death her,
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  Speaker 2: a heartache, or a scandal, and before long it's swept
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  Speaker 2: up in the and the whirlwind of activity, and life
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  Speaker 2: goes on, and we're left with the anguish of a
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  Speaker 2: memory and so little perspective. You see, in order for
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  Speaker 2: there to be perspectives over these things, there must be monuments,
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  Speaker 2: There must be memorials, and they must be returned to
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  Speaker 2: and learned from and passed on.
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  Speaker 3: There must be the purems in.
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  Speaker 2: Our lives, without which we live rootless, fast lain lives
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  Speaker 2: without much significance. And you know, the worst part of all,
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  Speaker 2: our children learn less than little, often nothing from our failures,
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  Speaker 2: our brokenness, and our sorrows. If anything, they learn only
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  Speaker 2: to hate like we hated, and to get revenge like
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  Speaker 2: we sought to do. Are simply to drink themselves to sleep,
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  Speaker 2: like so many choose to do. In twenty nine through
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  Speaker 2: thirty two. At the end of the story, all of
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  Speaker 2: it is made official. Queen Esther steps in and writes
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  Speaker 2: with full authority, along with Mordecai, to confirm this letter
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  Speaker 2: about Purim, and then the letters are sent to all
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  Speaker 2: the Jews and all the provinces, according to verse thirty,
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  Speaker 2: and they established those days of Pyramid their appointed times,
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  Speaker 2: just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established.
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  Speaker 3: For them, and the command of Esther, this.
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  Speaker 2: Chapter concludes, establishes these customs for puremid It is written
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  Speaker 2: in the book. There's a memorial established, there's a holiday
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  Speaker 2: for reflection. And to this day, even little children centuries
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  Speaker 2: removed from the days of Esther take off their shoes
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  Speaker 2: and pound on desks to remember the name of Hayman and.
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  Speaker 3: Cheer to the top of their voice.
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  Speaker 2: As they listen again to the name of Mordecai and
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  Speaker 2: the name of Esther. They still learn from the ancient scroll,
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  Speaker 2: what is all of this saying?
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  Speaker 3: How does it relate to our lives? Day? Pray?
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  Speaker 2: Tell well, most of all, I think it's saying, all
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  Speaker 2: of us, when looking back, can see sadness and remorse
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  Speaker 2: and nothing else unless perspective is provided, and I think
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  Speaker 2: it is saying, unless we provide some kind of perspective,
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  Speaker 2: we will do nothing but sigh and grieve over our past.
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  Speaker 2: In light of that, I have a suggestion, and I
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  Speaker 2: have a warning. My suggestion is this, that each one
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  Speaker 2: of us raise up memorials, mental monuments that turn tragedies
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  Speaker 2: into triumphs. Each one of us, that we raise up
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  Speaker 2: memorials to turn tragedies into triumphs. Webster says a monument
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  Speaker 2: is the lasting evidence of something or someone notable. Webster
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  Speaker 2: defines memorial serving to preserve remembrance, a commemoration. Think back
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  Speaker 2: for a moment, to the coming of the bold weavil.
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  Speaker 2: All of you are old enough to have a few
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  Speaker 2: crop failures disasters. Think back, have you built a monument
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  Speaker 2: to it? It may be too close and too raw
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  Speaker 2: for you to do it today, but don't spend the
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  Speaker 2: rest of your life licking your wounds over yesteryear, or
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  Speaker 2: you will experience a grim future. What did you learn
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  Speaker 2: from it? How did it turn in your life? You
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  Speaker 2: can't change it.
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  Speaker 4: It's over.
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  Speaker 2: Sure you should have known better. Sure I could leave
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  Speaker 2: you with all kinds of shame on the shoods and
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  Speaker 2: woods and aughts that I could lay on you, you
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  Speaker 2: could lay on me. But what did you learn from it?
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  Speaker 2: You see, it's that that's worth passing on to the
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  Speaker 2: next generation and the next here's the warning, don't turn
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  Speaker 2: the memorial into a shrine. Isn't it strange? Those who
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  Speaker 2: travel in the land of Israel today are told this
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  Speaker 2: is a piece of wood from the cross, And this
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  Speaker 2: is a piece of wood from the cross. One cynic said,
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  Speaker 2: if I gathered up all the wood that was told
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  Speaker 2: me to be a piece of the cross, I got
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  Speaker 2: to build a battleship. Who cares about a piece of
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  Speaker 2: wood from the cross. It isn't in existence.
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  Speaker 3: Who needs it?
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  Speaker 2: What I need is a memorial, and God's given it
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  Speaker 2: in the table, the bread and the cup. That's the
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  Speaker 2: memorial of the cross, and he.
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  Speaker 3: Left it as a legacy for people of faith. And
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  Speaker 3: every time we.
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  Speaker 2: Sit at the table, children are to understand, sweetheart, the
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  Speaker 2: bread represents the body, honey, this piece of bread is
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  Speaker 2: for his body, which was given for and the juice
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  Speaker 2: represents his blood. This is a memorial, and we remember
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  Speaker 2: this because he.
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  Speaker 3: Died for us.
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  Speaker 2: But it isn't a place to worship if we don't
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  Speaker 2: worship the elements. We don't bow before the table where
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  Speaker 2: they're served. We worship the memory and the significance the
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  Speaker 2: triumph of the Cross. This is what makes Christmas so wonderful. See,
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  Speaker 2: the enemy would love that we just do nothing but keep.
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  Speaker 3: It merry, just merry Christmas.
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  Speaker 2: The legend is told of the time Satan and his
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  Speaker 2: demons were having a Christmas party. As the demonic guests
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  Speaker 2: were preparing to depart, one grinned and said to Satan,
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  Speaker 2: Merry Christmas, your majesty. At that, Satan replied with a growl, Yes,
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  Speaker 2: keep it merry. If they ever get serious about it,
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  Speaker 2: we'll all be in trouble. Get serious about it.
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  Speaker 3: It is the birth of the baby.
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  Speaker 2: It is the coming of God. It is the intervention
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  Speaker 2: of God's presence.
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  Speaker 3: Get serious.
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  Speaker 2: It is the invitation to take him and own him
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  Speaker 2: as Lord Master.
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  Speaker 3: Don't seek to find the sight where he was crucified.
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  Speaker 2: Don't seek to locate the tomb from which he was raised.
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  Speaker 3: They've made them all into shrines. Need the Savior.
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  Speaker 2: Really, what I offer today is an answer to the
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  Speaker 2: ache of life, an answer to the Haymans whose shadows
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  Speaker 2: have crossed your lives, and to the would have been
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  Speaker 2: holocausts that would have devastated your exist I suggest you
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  Speaker 2: make a memorial out of it, and the lessons you
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  Speaker 2: learned from it that have turned you into a person
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  Speaker 2: God wanted you to be. Those are the things to
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  Speaker 2: pass on and on and on. I don't know what
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  Speaker 2: all of this says to anyone else, but it says
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  Speaker 2: a wail of a lot.
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  Speaker 4: To me.
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  Speaker 2: It says, I'm grateful for a book that has recorded
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  Speaker 2: the whole story that hasn't quite yet ended. It will
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  Speaker 2: next time. But it's a story of triumph that grew
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  Speaker 2: out of tragedy, ecstasy out of agony, celebration out of
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  Speaker 2: an ache. When they nailed him on a cross. I
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  Speaker 2: imagine that night a lot of them got drunk. I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure they toasted one another with triumphal words. I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: the empty headed fools that ran the government thought another
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  Speaker 2: crazy gone from us. Finally got rid of that headache
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  Speaker 2: and the eerie hours of the morning. Three days later
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  Speaker 2: there was the beginning of a celebration. And that's a
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  Speaker 2: message we returned to every Easter, because God gave us
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  Speaker 2: a memorial.
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  Speaker 3: My question to you is how long will you stay
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  Speaker 3: at the ache?
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  Speaker 2: And the heartache and the brokenness of your pain. When
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  Speaker 2: it will it become for you a purium, a time
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  Speaker 2: to learn and to pass on the lessons, the beginning
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  Speaker 2: of the rest of your life. When let's about together,
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  Speaker 2: shall we imagine for a moment, stepping before the real
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  Speaker 2: tomb from which he was raised. Imagine looking into the
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  Speaker 2: distance and seeing the shadow of the real cross, that
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  Speaker 2: the signs of time have not erased the real scene.
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  Speaker 2: Now imagine standing before him, whose hands are scarred, whose
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  Speaker 2: side was pierced.
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  Speaker 3: Are you real sure.
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  Speaker 2: You have a relationship with him that will take you
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  Speaker 2: into and beyond eternity?
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  Speaker 3: Are you certain he is your God and savior?
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  Speaker 2: He invites wise people to come to him to this day,
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  Speaker 2: to see themselves in their sin and lostness and brokenness,
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  Speaker 2: and to come and join the company of the faithful,
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  Speaker 2: to come and adore.
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  Speaker 4: Him, our father.
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  Speaker 2: We realize that in life there are these events that
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  Speaker 2: occur that bring us a deep ache of heart. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: they break our hearts. They're hard to bear, they're hard
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  Speaker 2: to hear, they're hard to deal with, they're hard to
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  Speaker 2: recover from. But when we begin to get your perspective
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  Speaker 2: on these things, when we begin to see your hand
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  Speaker 2: at work turning our heartaches into causes of celebration. We
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  Speaker 2: realize yet again that the life of faith pays off.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for honoring your name even through the midst
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  Speaker 2: of our trials. Thank you for a reminder that in
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  Speaker 2: the end you win. Thank you, Father for personalizing events
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  Speaker 2: in such special ways to make us realize that memorials
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  Speaker 2: can be built in places of monuments of misery, are
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  Speaker 2: memories that break our hearts. Bring us back to those
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  Speaker 2: memorials from time to time to strengthen our faith as
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  Speaker 2: we call to mind what you have done in turning
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  Speaker 2: curses and heartaches into causes of celebration and blessing. We
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  Speaker 2: thank you for all of this, and we claim these
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  Speaker 2: things today by faith in the name of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: our Lord and Master, our triumphant King.
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  Speaker 3: Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Pain has a long memory, but as Chucksmundau reminded us today,
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  Speaker 1: God specializes in turning mourning into celebration, transforming the very
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  Speaker 1: day men for destruction into a feast. The question isn't
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  Speaker 1: whether you're a bad weevil has come, it's whether you've
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  Speaker 1: built a monument.
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  Speaker 3: Yet.
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  Speaker 1: This is insight for living, and we're coming near the
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  Speaker 1: conclusion of Chucks Weyndall's twelve part biographical study on Ester,
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  Speaker 1: a woman of strength and dignity. While there's still time,
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  Speaker 1: we encourage you to take advantage of the bundle of
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  Speaker 1: resources that we've assembled for this study. It includes the
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  Speaker 1: Searching the Scripture's Bible Study workbook, Chuck's full length biography
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  Speaker 1: of Esther, and the complete collection of twelve sermons on CD.
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  Speaker 1: To access this bundle right now, go to insight dot
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  Speaker 1: org slash offer Chuck. We're coming up on another milestone
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  Speaker 1: here at Insight for Living. On June thirtieth, we'll close
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  Speaker 1: the books on another ministry year and step into our
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  Speaker 1: forty seventh year of ministry. And moments like these, it's
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  Speaker 1: imperative that we've remained laser focused on our primary mission.
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  Speaker 2: Not long ago, I had the privilege of sitting with
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  Speaker 2: a small group of young pastors, right eager, serious about
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  Speaker 2: their calling, and they came loaded with questions. I loved it.
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  Speaker 2: One of them leaned forward and asked me something I've
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  Speaker 2: been asked a hundred times, but it never gets old.
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  Speaker 2: He said, Chuck, how do I quicken the hearts of
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  Speaker 2: my congregation in a world that spends more time staring
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  Speaker 2: into a cell phone than reading a Bible. I smiled
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  Speaker 2: because I've been waiting my whole life for that question.
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  Speaker 2: Stick to the word. That's it, that's the answer. Don't
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  Speaker 2: chase trends, don't craft clever self help messages dressed up
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  Speaker 2: in religious language. Don't try to out entertain the entertainment world.
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  Speaker 2: You'll lose that race every single time.
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  Speaker 4: Just open your.
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  Speaker 2: Bible, tell your people who God is. Let the text speak,
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  Speaker 2: and I promise you will never ever want for an audience.
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  Speaker 2: His word is inexhaustible. Character is genuinely, breathtakingly awesome. And
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  Speaker 2: I mean that in the purest sense of the word,
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  Speaker 2: not a hashtag, not a throwaway adjective awesome. Here's something
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  Speaker 2: you may not know, insight for living reaches a remarkable
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  Speaker 2: number of pastors. We train them, we resource them, we
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  Speaker 2: come alongside them in their calling. And when you impact
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  Speaker 2: a pastor, you impact a congregation. When you impact a congregation,
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  Speaker 2: the ripple effect spreads through families and then through generations.
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  Speaker 2: That's not a small thing. That's a legacy. As June
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  Speaker 2: thirtieth approaches, I want to invite you to invest in
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  Speaker 2: the next generation of Cross proclaimers. Your gift doesn't reach
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  Speaker 2: just one person. It reaches a pastor who reaches hundreds,
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  Speaker 2: who raise up families.
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  Speaker 3: Who carry the message.
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  Speaker 2: For long after you and I are gone. What are
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  Speaker 2: you waiting for? Let's invest together. The Cross, we proclaim,
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  Speaker 2: is worth every penny.
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  Speaker 1: When you give today, we'll be saying thanks by providing
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  Speaker 1: a brand new booklet from Chuck. It's called The Cross.
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  Speaker 1: We proclaim. This isn't a booklet that elevates the power
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  Speaker 1: of the human spirit. In fact, it's one that openly
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  Speaker 1: admits our personal failures, our poor decisions, and the things
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  Speaker 1: we'd rather forget. Chuck calls it the pit in the Cross.
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  Speaker 1: We proclaim you'll discover why Jesus through the Cross doesn't
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  Speaker 1: ignore your past, but redeems it. A copy is yours
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  Speaker 1: with a gift to support Insight for Living. Address your
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  Speaker 1: envelope to Insight for Living post Office Box five thousand, Frisco, Texas,
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  Speaker 1: seven five three four. You can also call us at
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  Speaker 1: eight hundred seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight,
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  Speaker 1: or give online at Insight dot org slash donate. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Bill Meyer. Join us. When Chucks Wendall continues his biographical
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  Speaker 1: study of Esther, a woman of strength and dignity. Monday
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  Speaker 1: on Insight for Living. The preceding message after the Ach
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  Speaker 1: Celebrate was copyrighted in nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety, nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety seven, two thousand and five, twenty eighteen, and twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty six, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty six by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All rights are
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  Speaker 1: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
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  Speaker 1: strictly prohibited