Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Page from Jesus’ Journal, Part 1

Transcript

A Page from Jesus’ Journal, Part 1 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:06
Speaker 1: Imagine having the complete undivided attention of Jesus. Not a
0:11
Speaker 1: distracted glance, not a hurried word, but eyes that look
0:14
Speaker 1: deep into your soul and a heart moved with genuine
0:17
Speaker 1: compassion for exactly what you're facing. Today on Insight for Living,
0:22
Speaker 1: Chuck Swindoll continues his study in Mark 1, where one
0:25
Speaker 1: doorway gets shadowed by a whole city, the sick, the suffering,
0:29
Speaker 1: the broken. And Jesus meets them one by one, never rushing,
0:34
Speaker 1: never overlooking a single soul. What does it mean to
0:37
Speaker 1: be truly seen by the Savior? Chuck titled today's message,
0:42
Speaker 1: A Page from Jesus' Journal.
0:51
Speaker 2: Our reading today in the scriptures is in the first
0:53
Speaker 2: chapter of the gospel by Mark.
0:57
Speaker 3: If you will locate that, please.
1:00
Speaker 2: We'll begin reading at verse 29 of Mark chapter 1,
1:06
Speaker 2: Mark 1, 29. And immediately after they came out of
1:11
Speaker 2: the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and
1:15
Speaker 2: Andrew with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying
1:21
Speaker 2: sick with a fever, and immediately they spoke to Jesus
1:26
Speaker 2: about her. And he came to her. and raised her up,
1:33
Speaker 2: taking her by the hand and the fever left her
1:37
Speaker 2: and she waited on them. When evening came after the
1:41
Speaker 2: sun had set, they began bringing to him all who
1:45
Speaker 2: were ill and those who were demonized. And the whole
1:51
Speaker 2: city had gathered at the door and he healed many
1:54
Speaker 2: who were ill with various diseases and cast out many demons.
2:01
Speaker 2: And he was not permitting the demons to speak because
2:05
Speaker 2: they knew who he was. In the early morning, while
2:09
Speaker 2: it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house,
2:14
Speaker 2: and went away to a secluded place and was praying there.
2:20
Speaker 2: Simon and his companions searched for him. They found him
2:25
Speaker 2: and said, everyone is looking for you. He said to them,
2:32
Speaker 2: let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby so
2:36
Speaker 2: that I may preach there also, for that is what
2:38
Speaker 2: I came for. And he went into their synagogues throughout
2:44
Speaker 2: all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.
2:59
Speaker 1: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into
3:02
Speaker 1: the gospel according to Mark, be sure to purchase a
3:05
Speaker 1: copy of our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbooks by
3:08
Speaker 1: going to insight.org slash offer. Chuck titled today's message, A
3:14
Speaker 1: Page from Jesus' Journal.
3:16
Speaker 2: There's something fascinating, even captivating, about reading the words of
3:21
Speaker 2: another person's journal. This is especially true if they've already
3:26
Speaker 2: gone on before us.
3:28
Speaker 3: And one of the things left in.
3:30
Speaker 2: Their legacy are their own words. And always in their
3:34
Speaker 2: own handwriting, you can enter into their world as you
3:39
Speaker 2: read those words. And sometimes you can feel like you're
3:44
Speaker 2: a part of the threads woven into the fabric of
3:47
Speaker 2: their lives as they live them out in yesteryear. I'm
3:54
Speaker 2: having that experience right now as I I'm working my
3:58
Speaker 2: way through the 769-page book written by Doris Kearns Goodwin,
4:05
Speaker 2: Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Her book is titled No Ordinary Time.
4:10
Speaker 2: What's fascinating is that it is the account of life
4:16
Speaker 2: behind the scenes in the White House, mainly during the
4:21
Speaker 2: Second World War years. I was only a lad then,
4:26
Speaker 2: and so my world was altogether different from the world of,
4:30
Speaker 2: of course, the president and the first lady and the
4:33
Speaker 2: cabinet and those who surrounded that difficult time in our
4:38
Speaker 2: nation's history. It's fascinating and even captivating to read accounts
4:44
Speaker 2: where the president is in the midst of a serious
4:49
Speaker 2: decision he must make. not wanting us to go into war,
4:54
Speaker 2: but feeling the compulsion pushed upon him from the European
5:00
Speaker 2: theater as Hitler was making his move across Europe, as
5:05
Speaker 2: one country after another has fallen. And when I read
5:09
Speaker 2: of that and feel the emotion of his being caught
5:13
Speaker 2: on the horns of a dilemma. I remember how idyllic
5:18
Speaker 2: and innocent and simple my childhood was. Living out my life,
5:25
Speaker 2: running barefoot in the streets of Houston, playing sandlot football
5:29
Speaker 2: at the end of our street and our residential area.
5:32
Speaker 2: I had no idea of the decisions being made and
5:37
Speaker 2: the actions being taken there in Washington and in places
5:42
Speaker 2: around there. Knew nothing of the struggle between Franklin and
5:46
Speaker 2: Eleanor Roosevelt. And the book tells of the struggle and
5:49
Speaker 2: doesn't hide that from the reader. And then all of
5:54
Speaker 2: a sudden out of the blue on that dreadful day
5:58
Speaker 2: of infamy, the 7th of December, 1941, which came and
6:03
Speaker 2: left with hardly a notice on my part as a
6:05
Speaker 2: little boy, but it changed everything for our nation is
6:11
Speaker 2: now we are no longer able to hold back, sit back.
6:17
Speaker 2: We're now sandwiched between two world powers whose hope is
6:22
Speaker 2: ultimately to dominate even our country as well as others.
6:29
Speaker 2: The imperial Japanese forces on one side and the Nazi
6:34
Speaker 2: forces on the other and the submarines in the Atlantic
6:37
Speaker 2: and the Pacific and now, as they put it back then,
6:40
Speaker 2: our boys go to war.
6:43
Speaker 3: And I thought as I.
6:44
Speaker 2: Sat early in the morning reading this, how great of
6:50
Speaker 2: my parents to carry the burden of a nation and
6:55
Speaker 2: not to concern their children with it. While we prayed
6:59
Speaker 2: for our boys and while we cared for those, I
7:02
Speaker 2: had no idea of the emotional drain that was going
7:06
Speaker 2: on among our leaders and among our commanding officers and
7:11
Speaker 2: those brave men and women who wore the uniform. When
7:16
Speaker 2: I begin to work my way through the gospel by Mark,
7:20
Speaker 2: I feel as though I am reading over the shoulder
7:22
Speaker 2: of the Savior. And It's magnificent when I tear a
7:28
Speaker 2: page from his journal and see what occurred in almost
7:31
Speaker 2: a non-stop, moment-by-moment fashion. I find myself woven into the
7:39
Speaker 2: fabric of that life as well. But not by experience,
7:44
Speaker 2: only through spiritual lessons that can be applied from the
7:48
Speaker 2: sacred text. Last time we were together, the page in
7:54
Speaker 2: the journal took us to the synagogue in Capernaum, and
7:58
Speaker 2: you'll remember that. We all watched as Jesus held his
8:03
Speaker 2: congregation in rapt attention, teaching as no one had ever
8:07
Speaker 2: taught before, and they contrasted his teaching with the teaching
8:11
Speaker 2: of the tedious.
8:12
Speaker 3: And dull words of the scribes.
8:15
Speaker 2: No one ever taught like Jesus taught, and In the
8:18
Speaker 2: midst of the teaching, there is this man who is
8:21
Speaker 2: victimized with the presence of multiple demons inside him. And
8:25
Speaker 2: the demons speak through his vocal cords and Jesus addresses
8:30
Speaker 2: the demon and rebukes the demon and casts the demons out.
8:34
Speaker 2: The people are just, well, we read in verse 27,
8:37
Speaker 2: they're amazed so that they debated among themselves saying, what
8:41
Speaker 2: is this?
8:43
Speaker 3: What is this?
8:44
Speaker 2: A new teaching with authority and in the command of
8:48
Speaker 2: those who are demonic and supernatural. He even has authority
8:53
Speaker 2: over them. Our sermon ended, but the journal continues on
9:00
Speaker 2: and takes us now into one scene after another. I
9:04
Speaker 2: began to count just a little simple connective particle and, and, and.
9:10
Speaker 2: I stopped about number 14 or 15. And he did this,
9:14
Speaker 2: and from there they went there, and immediately this occurred,
9:17
Speaker 2: and that evening, and early the next morning, and that
9:21
Speaker 2: day Peter came. It's just one scene after, it's a
9:24
Speaker 2: page from his journal. And if we're not careful, it'll
9:28
Speaker 2: sort of run its way by in a blur, and
9:31
Speaker 2: we'll miss the significance. I don't want us to do that.
9:36
Speaker 2: So today, let's take a little different approach. I provided
9:40
Speaker 2: you with an outline I'd like you to follow. It's
9:43
Speaker 2: in your worship folder, and the outline gives us lines
9:46
Speaker 2: from the journal, if you will. In Capernaum, he entered
9:50
Speaker 2: the synagogue. We were there last time, verses 21 to 28.
9:54
Speaker 2: And immediately after coming out of the synagogue, 29 to 31,
10:00
Speaker 2: 31 so we go from the synagogue into a home
10:03
Speaker 2: happens to be Peter's home we'll get there in a
10:05
Speaker 2: moment and when evening came after the sun had set
10:09
Speaker 2: we see what happens in 32 through 34 In the
10:14
Speaker 2: early morning, while it was still dark, 35 through 38,
10:18
Speaker 2: we see Jesus as he seeks solitude and is alone
10:21
Speaker 2: with the Father. And finally, verse 39, he went into
10:25
Speaker 2: their synagogue throughout all Galilee. It's one scene after another
10:29
Speaker 2: after another. You're sort of moved along, almost while watching
10:33
Speaker 2: a movie as the scenes unfold, Mark giving us just
10:37
Speaker 2: the snapshots along the way of the significant events that
10:40
Speaker 2: happened during the hours of that day. Look, for example,
10:45
Speaker 2: as we move beyond where we were last time and
10:48
Speaker 2: let's see where he immediately after they came out of
10:52
Speaker 2: the synagogue. So what do we have? You'll recall it's
10:55
Speaker 2: the Sabbath. It's the Saturday, the sacred day among the Jews.
11:01
Speaker 2: On the Sabbath, you can carry no burdens. You can
11:04
Speaker 2: do no work. All food is prepared the previous day
11:08
Speaker 2: and eaten on the Sabbath. No cooking occurs during the Sabbath.
11:13
Speaker 2: So all of this happens in the Sabbath day in
11:16
Speaker 2: the synagogue and Jesus leaving there goes to Peter's home.
11:21
Speaker 2: You'll read it here. We read, they came out of
11:24
Speaker 2: the synagogue. They came into the house of Simon and
11:28
Speaker 2: Andrew with James and John. I would imagine, if you
11:33
Speaker 2: will allow me a little imagination here, they were probably
11:36
Speaker 2: hungry just as you are after church. And you leave
11:41
Speaker 2: church and you go out, go your way. Most of
11:44
Speaker 2: us get in our cars and we drive either to
11:46
Speaker 2: a place to eat or we go home. And before long,
11:51
Speaker 2: one of us, I'm always one to say, I'm starving.
11:54
Speaker 2: Cynthia's learned it can be a little dangerous if she
11:57
Speaker 2: keeps me in that condition very long. So usually our
12:00
Speaker 2: meal is pretty well prepared. Or if we go to
12:02
Speaker 2: some place, I'm not too patient.
12:04
Speaker 3: I'm starving.
12:05
Speaker 2: So maybe they're starving. They may have had fried chicken.
12:08
Speaker 2: I don't know what they had. We're not told what
12:10
Speaker 2: they ate. We're just told that they came into the house,
12:13
Speaker 2: but there's no meal. There's no one serving anybody anything
12:17
Speaker 2: to eat. And we've got five hungry men, Jesus and
12:21
Speaker 2: Simon and Andrew and James and John. And who knows,
12:24
Speaker 2: maybe friends came along with them. But now they encounter
12:28
Speaker 2: someone who is sick. Verse 30, Simon's mother-in-law.
12:34
Speaker 3: What does that tell us?
12:37
Speaker 2: Quite likely, as to this very day.
12:40
Speaker 3: Families live together.
12:42
Speaker 2: And when the sons or daughters married, they simply would
12:45
Speaker 2: add on or up to the house, so the house
12:48
Speaker 2: would become larger.
12:49
Speaker 3: The mother-in-law, the.
12:51
Speaker 2: Father, the daughter, the daughter, all of those people are
12:54
Speaker 2: all living in this place. And the mother-in-law, who probably
12:58
Speaker 2: helps serve on a regular occasion, knowing there'd be a
13:01
Speaker 2: group coming, is not there to serve.
13:05
Speaker 3: She's laid aside. She's sick.
13:08
Speaker 2: When you read Luke 4, which is in keeping with
13:10
Speaker 2: Mark chapter 1, you'll read Dr.
13:13
Speaker 3: Luke's words.
13:14
Speaker 2: It's always interesting when you read of sickness, fevers, and
13:17
Speaker 2: other things, you get a medical doctor's point of view.
13:21
Speaker 2: And here in Luke 4, if you were to take
13:24
Speaker 2: the time, you would see that she has a high fever.
13:28
Speaker 2: The term that Luke uses for fever is This high
13:31
Speaker 2: fever is the original root word for fire. We would
13:36
Speaker 2: say she's burning up with a fever. So it isn't
13:39
Speaker 2: just a mild case of a sore throat or a
13:42
Speaker 2: light flu.
13:43
Speaker 3: This woman's sick.
13:46
Speaker 2: She's very sick. She's burning up with a fever. And
13:49
Speaker 2: in first century days, people died of a high fever.
13:55
Speaker 2: and she's very sick, and Luke tells us more than Mark.
14:00
Speaker 2: Luke says, standing over her, he rebuked the fever. It's
14:06
Speaker 2: an interesting thing. It's a disease, but he treats it
14:12
Speaker 2: as though it is a living organism.
14:15
Speaker 3: For Jesus, it is. He is Lord over the dying,
14:24
Speaker 3: The disabled as well as the diseased. He is just
14:29
Speaker 3: as able to rebuke the wind and the waves. And
14:32
Speaker 3: they all still.
14:33
Speaker 2: They all die down. And the sea becomes a slick.
14:39
Speaker 2: Surface with no ripples. Because he rebuked the wind and
14:42
Speaker 2: the waves. They follow his command. Here he rebukes the
14:46
Speaker 2: germs within the woman. He rebukes the fever.
14:52
Speaker 1: And.
14:54
Speaker 2: Immediately we read, the fever left her and she waited
15:00
Speaker 2: on them. I don't want you to miss something. When
15:05
Speaker 2: the miracle is authentic, there's no waiting period. May I say,
15:10
Speaker 2: there's no exchange of money. This is no healing line
15:15
Speaker 2: done by a showman.
15:18
Speaker 3: This is in a.
15:18
Speaker 2: Private home, unexpected, spontaneously A miracle is performed. I met
15:28
Speaker 2: a man just before our first morning worship service began
15:32
Speaker 2: who's been married a number of years and the last
15:36
Speaker 2: half dozen or so his wife has had Alzheimer's and
15:40
Speaker 2: he's a caregiver. My heart went out to him immediately
15:45
Speaker 2: as it does to anyone who serves alongside a loved
15:49
Speaker 2: one who's laid aside like that and the The curtain
15:52
Speaker 2: is slowly being drawn, and as he put it, she's
15:56
Speaker 2: no longer home, no longer there. And I thought, as
16:02
Speaker 2: tears came to his eyes, and I threw my arms
16:04
Speaker 2: around him and thanked him for visiting with us today,
16:08
Speaker 2: I thought, wouldn't it be great just to say, psst, Jesus,
16:15
Speaker 2: come here.
16:16
Speaker 3: Would you go home with this man?
16:20
Speaker 2: Would you just rebuke the Alzheimer's disease.
16:25
Speaker 3: And bring her back? Oh, he would have. Not because
16:31
Speaker 3: I asked him, but because he is filled with compassion.
16:35
Speaker 3: He rebukes the fever and she waited on him.
16:40
Speaker 2: Another sign of a miracle is that there is an
16:43
Speaker 2: immediate full recovery.
16:45
Speaker 3: There's no waiting period.
16:47
Speaker 2: Alleged faith healers today promise the person in line that
16:51
Speaker 2: later you'll be healed.
16:54
Speaker 3: Nonsense.
16:57
Speaker 2: When there is a healing, the healing is now. And
17:00
Speaker 2: it is total, thorough, immediate. She's up and she has
17:08
Speaker 2: no sense of fever and she's waiting on them. But
17:11
Speaker 2: let's learn the lesson. I've left you a little space
17:13
Speaker 2: here for a lesson following each one of these. The
17:16
Speaker 2: lesson following verses 29 through 31 is this. Out of compassion,
17:22
Speaker 2: he brought healing. If you don't mind, I'd like you
17:26
Speaker 2: to write it down. You'll need it later. If not today,
17:30
Speaker 2: you'll need it before too long in your life. Out
17:33
Speaker 2: of compassion, he brought healing. He helped instinctively because he
17:40
Speaker 2: is supremely and sincerely compassionate.
17:46
Speaker 3: I love that about the Savior.
17:48
Speaker 2: He didn't interest to increase his prestige. He didn't show
17:52
Speaker 2: interest there. He ministered to her because he cared. Paul Tournier,
17:58
Speaker 2: the physician, wrote, My patients very often say to me,
18:02
Speaker 2: I admire you for the patience with which you listen
18:04
Speaker 2: to everything I tell you. Tournier responds, It's not patience
18:09
Speaker 2: at all.
18:11
Speaker 3: But interest.
18:14
Speaker 2: If you have a competent physician and you go with
18:17
Speaker 2: an illness or disability or a disease and you talk
18:20
Speaker 2: to your physician about it, your physician is either standing
18:25
Speaker 2: or sitting on the edge of her seat or his
18:27
Speaker 2: seat listening. Not so you'll be impressed, but because he cares.
18:36
Speaker 2: There cannot be a proper diagnosis if there isn't a
18:39
Speaker 2: proper analysis.
18:42
Speaker 3: And that takes listening, caring.
18:47
Speaker 2: People in need take time. I'll say more about this
18:50
Speaker 2: in a moment. But let's make sure as we mature
18:53
Speaker 2: in our growth in Christ that our compassion deepens. Let's
18:59
Speaker 2: make sure it's sincere, not just posing as if we care.
19:06
Speaker 2: And by the way, those who are ill always know
19:09
Speaker 2: the difference.
19:10
Speaker 3: They can tell.
19:13
Speaker 2: When evening came, verse 32, the journal continues. When evening
19:20
Speaker 2: came after the sun had set. Now, why would Mark
19:24
Speaker 2: add that? Before we even get into what happened, why
19:29
Speaker 2: would he do that?
19:30
Speaker 3: Why would he add that detail? Because the Sabbath is over.
19:35
Speaker 2: Remember, we said earlier on the Sabbath, you can't carry burdens.
19:40
Speaker 2: But now that the Sabbath has passed, not only can
19:43
Speaker 2: meals be cooked, not only can work be done, but
19:47
Speaker 2: you can take in your arms the one you love
19:49
Speaker 2: who can't walk. anymore, and you can bring that person
19:52
Speaker 2: to the door of where Jesus is ministering.
19:55
Speaker 3: That's exactly what happens.
19:57
Speaker 2: When evening came, after the sun had set, they began
19:59
Speaker 2: bringing to him all who were ill, those who were demon-possessed.
20:05
Speaker 2: The word is really demonized. The person may be demon oppressed.
20:09
Speaker 2: The person may have a demon or demons within him.
20:12
Speaker 2: The Greek term is demonized. Demonizomai is the word and
20:15
Speaker 2: it is the idea of being demonized in whatever level
20:19
Speaker 2: of demonism. And in this case, there are people fighting
20:22
Speaker 2: with unclean spirits. And they have heard in the synagogue,
20:26
Speaker 2: he took care of the man who was living with
20:28
Speaker 2: an unclean spirit.
20:29
Speaker 3: And maybe the loved one says, come with us. Come
20:33
Speaker 3: with us.
20:34
Speaker 2: We know someone who can relieve you, who can bring
20:37
Speaker 2: healing to your soul, who can release you from the grip.
20:41
Speaker 3: And what a chaotic scene it must have been. Look
20:45
Speaker 3: at verse 33. The whole city had gathered at the door.
20:52
Speaker 2: The whole village of Capernaum, he had once been in
20:55
Speaker 2: a synagogue, and now he is in the home of Peter.
21:01
Speaker 2: And Peter's family and the others are there, and they
21:05
Speaker 2: begin to hear the noise outside through the afternoon. And
21:07
Speaker 2: then by evening, there's a cacophony of sound.
21:10
Speaker 3: It is all over, and they push the door open.
21:13
Speaker 2: And there, as far as the eye can see, there
21:16
Speaker 2: are people in need all.
21:17
Speaker 3: Around the area.
21:21
Speaker 2: And he healed many who were ill with various diseases
21:24
Speaker 2: and cast out many demons and was not permitting the
21:27
Speaker 2: demons to speak.
21:30
Speaker 3: Because they knew who he was. He didn't need demons
21:34
Speaker 3: to be his evangelists. He muzzled them just like before.
21:40
Speaker 3: They knew who he was. They knew their days were numbered.
21:44
Speaker 3: They know doom is ahead of them.
21:45
Speaker 2: That's why Satan is on the march, hoping to bring
21:48
Speaker 2: with him as many people as possible to a lake
21:51
Speaker 2: of fire prepared for the devil.
21:53
Speaker 3: And his demons.
21:55
Speaker 2: But Jesus says to them, you be silent.
21:58
Speaker 3: Don't speak. And they did not speak.
22:00
Speaker 2: With deliberateness and with determination, he pressed through the crowd
22:04
Speaker 2: and helped this person and that one and this one
22:07
Speaker 2: and that one and her loved one and her mother
22:10
Speaker 2: and this man's father and this one's son, this one's daughter.
22:14
Speaker 3: It must have been magnificent.
22:17
Speaker 2: He didn't come for the purpose merely to heal and
22:20
Speaker 2: to impress people. He came to preach the good news
22:24
Speaker 2: of the truth. But this corroborated that he was not
22:28
Speaker 2: simply another spokesman. He was from God. And he was
22:33
Speaker 2: able to heal at will. Under the power of the
22:38
Speaker 2: spirit who filled him. Lesson learned here.
22:44
Speaker 3: Don't miss it. Write it down. With faithfulness. He met
22:49
Speaker 3: the needs of the broken. With faithfulness.
22:54
Speaker 2: He met the needs of the broken. Earlier it was compassion.
22:59
Speaker 2: Now he faithfully is working through the crowd. Looking one
23:03
Speaker 2: after another in the eye. It must have been an
23:06
Speaker 2: eye contact like no one had ever seen before as
23:09
Speaker 2: he looked deeply into their lives. Sometimes you meet individuals
23:14
Speaker 2: that when they look you in the eye, you feel
23:16
Speaker 2: as if they're looking into your soul.
23:19
Speaker 3: Jesus is like that.
23:22
Speaker 2: Penetrating sight. And he touched this person. He spoke to
23:26
Speaker 2: that one. He rebuked this demon. He did this ministry.
23:29
Speaker 2: And they have never seen anything like it. Where do
23:34
Speaker 2: we find him within a matter of hours? Well, first
23:36
Speaker 2: of all, he's got to get some sleep. So between
23:41
Speaker 2: verses 34 and 35, he finds a place in the
23:44
Speaker 2: home where he can lie down.
23:46
Speaker 3: He's resting.
23:48
Speaker 2: But I love the beginning of 35. In the early morning,
23:51
Speaker 2: while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house,
24:00
Speaker 2: and went away to a secluded place.
24:03
Speaker 3: And was praying there.
24:04
Speaker 2: Isn't that magnificent? Remember, he is the theanthropic person. He
24:13
Speaker 2: is the God-man, undiminished deity, at the same time, true humanity.
24:20
Speaker 2: Deity never gets tired, but humanity can be exhausted. Deity
24:27
Speaker 2: never needs sleep. Humanity needs rest. And in his humanity,
24:33
Speaker 2: he is exhausted from the day before. However, he has
24:38
Speaker 2: the wisdom, he has the discipline to rise.
24:41
Speaker 3: Early in the morning, and he gets along with the Father, and.
24:46
Speaker 1: There he prays. What a picture of the Savior, exhausted
25:01
Speaker 1: from a day of pouring himself out. From his deep compassion,
25:05
Speaker 1: he brought healing. With faithfulness, he met the needs of
25:08
Speaker 1: the broken. And in solitude, he found the strength to
25:11
Speaker 1: keep going. You're listening to Insight for Living with Chuck Swindoll.
25:16
Speaker 1: Maybe today you needed that reminder that the one who
25:19
Speaker 1: cared for the crowds cares just as deeply for you.
25:23
Speaker 1: Stay with us because there's more to this snapshot of
25:25
Speaker 1: Jesus that Chuck wants to show us. Well, it's October 20th,
25:29
Speaker 1: and we're beginning to turn our attention to the fall season,
25:32
Speaker 1: including Thanksgiving and Christmas. To help you make the most
25:36
Speaker 1: of the holidays this year, we have a creative resource
25:39
Speaker 1: designed just for your family, hoping the next few weeks
25:42
Speaker 1: will become rich with spiritual meaning. I'm referring to a
25:46
Speaker 1: devotional that's published exclusively by Insight for Living. Everlasting Light
25:51
Speaker 1: is a 25-day Advent devotional that invites you to step
25:54
Speaker 1: out of your busy schedule and into a prayerful rhythm
25:57
Speaker 1: of waiting, reflection, and preparation. This includes scripture to anchor
26:02
Speaker 1: your heart, a quote from Chuck Swindoll to shape your thinking,
26:06
Speaker 1: and pastoral reflections from our own Carlos Sesueta to carry
26:09
Speaker 1: into your day. This hardcover devotional is ready today, so
26:13
Speaker 1: you'll receive it in plenty of time for Advent. Ask
26:17
Speaker 1: for the book called Everlasting Light when you include a
26:20
Speaker 1: contribution to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Call
26:25
Speaker 1: us at 800-772-8888. I'm sure your heart is heavy, as
26:30
Speaker 1: mine is, about the tension prevailing here at home and
26:33
Speaker 1: around the world. Do we need any more convincing that
26:37
Speaker 1: our troubled world needs the love and compassion of Jesus?
26:41
Speaker 1: This only amplifies the need to shine the everlasting light
26:44
Speaker 1: of God's love through Insight for Living. You can partner
26:47
Speaker 1: with us right now by going to insight.org slash donate
26:52
Speaker 1: or call 800-772-8888. And when you give, remember to request
26:58
Speaker 1: the 25-day Advent devotional called Everlasting Life. I'm Bill Meyer.
27:10
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us again when Chuck Swindoll reveals
27:12
Speaker 1: what he calls a page from the personal journal of Jesus.
27:16
Speaker 1: Tomorrow on Insight for Living. The preceding message, a page
27:23
Speaker 1: from Jesus' journal, was copyrighted in 2010 and 2026, and
27:28
Speaker 1: the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
27:33
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
27:38
Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.