Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – The Holiness of God, Part 1

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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – The Holiness of God, Part 1 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: There's a word in scripture that stops us cold. Not
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  Speaker 1: a complicated word, just four letters. But it's a word
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  Speaker 1: so foreign to our everyday experience that most of us
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  Speaker 1: have quietly agreed to let it belong to another century.
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  Speaker 1: The Word is holy and today on inside for living.
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  Speaker 1: Jucku Wendaull takes us twenty eight centuries into the past,
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  Speaker 1: to a grief stricken young prophet, a dying king, and
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  Speaker 1: a moment in the temple that would change everything. What
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  Speaker 1: does it really mean that God is holy? The answer
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  Speaker 1: may be simpler than you think, and far more personal.
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  Speaker 2: God's word is alive, and it's powerful, and it's sharper
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  Speaker 2: than a two edged sword. And it is able to
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  Speaker 2: pierce through the division of soul and spirit between the
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  Speaker 2: joints and the marrow. And it is a critic. It
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  Speaker 2: is a critic, a discerner of the thoughts and intentions
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  Speaker 2: of our hearts. That's true of both new and old Testaments.
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  Speaker 2: It's true of those ancient writings that are difficult for
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  Speaker 2: us to date to this day, all the way to
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  Speaker 2: the first century. We turn today some twenty eight hundred
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  Speaker 2: years back in time, as we open our bibles to
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  Speaker 2: the sixth chapter of the Prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah SI
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  Speaker 2: an epical moment in the life of a man whose
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  Speaker 2: life was marked by grief and loss, And we'll read
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  Speaker 2: of that in the opening lines of this first verse
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  Speaker 2: of Isaiah six. May I read for you verses one
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  Speaker 2: through eight, And because of our respect for the Word
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  Speaker 2: of God, may we stand together for the reading of
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  Speaker 2: the scriptures. In the year of King Eusiah's death, I
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  Speaker 2: saw the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty and exalted,
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  Speaker 2: with the train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim
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  Speaker 2: stood above him, each having six wings. With two he
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  Speaker 2: covered his face, and with two he covered his feet,
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  Speaker 2: And with two he flew. And one called out to
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  Speaker 2: another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts.
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  Speaker 2: The whole earth is full of his glory. And the
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  Speaker 2: foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him
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  Speaker 2: who called out. The temple was filling with smoke. Then
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  Speaker 2: I said, woe is me, for I am ruined, because
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  Speaker 2: I am a man of unclean lips, and I live
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  Speaker 2: among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have
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  Speaker 2: seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then one of
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  Speaker 2: the Seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in
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  Speaker 2: his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs,
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  Speaker 2: and he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has
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  Speaker 2: touched your lips, and your iniquity has taken away, and
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  Speaker 2: your sin is forgiven. Then I heard the voice of
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  Speaker 2: the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will
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  Speaker 2: go for us? And then I said, here I am,
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  Speaker 2: send me.
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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Insight for Living to dig deeper into
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  Speaker 1: today's topic on your own. To be sure to purchase
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: our Searching the Scripture's Bible study workbook by going to
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: insight dot org slash offer. This twelve part series is
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  Speaker 1: called How Great is Our God? And Chuck title today's
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  Speaker 1: message the Holiness of God.
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  Speaker 2: There are times we wonder how to get our arms
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  Speaker 2: around the greatness of our God. Last time we were together,
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  Speaker 2: we struggled with putting the whole thought of glory into
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  Speaker 2: everyday life. What does it mean to say that God
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  Speaker 2: is a God of glory? We learned that that term
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  Speaker 2: means heavy. There's a magnificent heaviness about his grandeur and
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  Speaker 2: about the credit that ought to go to him. He
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  Speaker 2: is a God of glory, but holy, What in the
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  Speaker 2: world does that mean? One man put together a list
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  Speaker 2: that he thinks of when he thinks of holiness. Thinness,
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  Speaker 2: hollow eyed, gauntness, beards, sandals, long robes, stone cells, no jokes,
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  Speaker 2: hair shirts, frequent cold baths, fasting, hours and hours of prayer,
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  Speaker 2: wild rocky deserts, getting up at four am, clean fingernails,
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  Speaker 2: stained glass, self humiliation. It's a pretty grim list, wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: you say. But the strange thing is, even though we
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  Speaker 2: hear those and we don't agree that that necessarily represents holiness,
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  Speaker 2: it's hard to be dis engaged from it. I've circled
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  Speaker 2: three on the lists that come to mind of beards, sandals,
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  Speaker 2: and long robes. Who do you think of? Of course
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  Speaker 2: you think of Jesus. Nothing wrong with any of the above,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, but can you picture Jesus just for a moment,
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  Speaker 2: maybe hard, a mustache, faded, torn jeans, and riding a Harley,
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  Speaker 2: maybe with a T shirt on that says born to ride.
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  Speaker 2: It just nothing wrong with any of that. It just
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  Speaker 2: doesn't feel holy. It just doesn't seem right. Somehow. Holiness
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  Speaker 2: is of another era, and it belongs to people who
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  Speaker 2: lived in maybe two centuries ago. But that's as inaccurate
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  Speaker 2: as it can possibly be. It has nothing to do
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  Speaker 2: with what we wear, has nothing to do with what
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  Speaker 2: we ride or drive, has nothing to do with facial hair.
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  Speaker 2: It really has nothing to do with externals. Holiness is
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  Speaker 2: all about what is on the inside inside of us.
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  Speaker 2: You can do all of that and ten times besides,
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  Speaker 2: and wind up as carnal as you have ever been
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  Speaker 2: in your life, because holiness has nothing to do with
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  Speaker 2: the externals. It is all about what's inside. As we're
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  Speaker 2: going to learn, it is all about being separate from
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  Speaker 2: separated from a world system that has long since lost
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  Speaker 2: its way. That's what it's about. There lived a profit
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  Speaker 2: twenty eight hundred years ago who struggled with the God's
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  Speaker 2: plan because the king he had gotten to know, King Eusiah,
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  Speaker 2: was dying a leper. How strange is that, a disease
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  Speaker 2: most of us have never seen, and perhaps in a lifetime,
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  Speaker 2: will never be around. But in those days twenty eight
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  Speaker 2: hundred years ago, it was not only debilitating, it was condemning.
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  Speaker 2: And this king Usiah, that had been Isaiah, the Prophet's king,
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  Speaker 2: had lived such a productive and magnificent life as the
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  Speaker 2: king of the land all more than fifty years. Usiah
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  Speaker 2: was once a man who walked with God and served well,
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  Speaker 2: and as the king for all of those years over
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  Speaker 2: the people of the Hebrews, he protected them and their
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  Speaker 2: future was bright and beautiful until something snapped. You recall,
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  Speaker 2: and at that time pride and conceit replaced humility and brokenness.
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  Speaker 2: He we would say today, he started believing his own stuff,
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  Speaker 2: reading his own clippings, and before long he pushed the
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  Speaker 2: limits and went too far and walked into the temple.
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  Speaker 2: He had no right going into the holiest place of all,
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  Speaker 2: and there God smote him with leprosy. When we open
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  Speaker 2: our bibles to Isaiah six, strangely we pick up the
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  Speaker 2: story where Usiah's leprosy leaves off. This is the year
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  Speaker 2: King Eusiah died. We don't know if it's the day
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  Speaker 2: of his death, if he has already died, or I
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  Speaker 2: would suspect this is the year of his dying. Like
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  Speaker 2: some cancer patients, it lingers, it goes on, and some
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  Speaker 2: physicians will say this is probably the last year. Had
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  Speaker 2: physicians lived in that day that would have known, they
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  Speaker 2: would have said this is Yusiah's last grieved, broken, disillusioned,
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  Speaker 2: perhaps disheartened, Isaiah finds his way, as we will read,
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  Speaker 2: into the Temple of the Lord, and before him was
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  Speaker 2: a life changing experience. I don't know what brought you
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  Speaker 2: into the church today, Curiosity, maybe a passing fancy. Perhaps
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  Speaker 2: it was for all the right motives, But I have
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  Speaker 2: to believe in a group this size a number, you
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  Speaker 2: have come broken, disheartened, maybe even disillusioned. Truth be told.
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  Speaker 2: You think maybe there's something here that will help turn
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  Speaker 2: things around for me, since I've begun a long drift
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  Speaker 2: in the wrong direction. You may have lost someone very
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  Speaker 2: meaningful to you, and as a result, you don't know
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  Speaker 2: that you can go on without him or her. And
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  Speaker 2: here you are wondering what in the world an ancient
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  Speaker 2: passage of scripture where things transpired twenty eight centuries ago,
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  Speaker 2: would have to say to you. You might be surprised.
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  Speaker 2: You might be very surprised to know it's directly related
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  Speaker 2: to your concept of the holiness of God. What happens
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  Speaker 2: to you? Let me cut to the chase. Even though
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  Speaker 2: we know Isaiah today as a well known prophet who
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  Speaker 2: wrote one of the major books of the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 2: at this time in his life, none of the above
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  Speaker 2: is true. He's a young man. He has been grieving
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  Speaker 2: the death of the King. And now Isaiah appears in
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  Speaker 2: the temple, perhaps for the purpose of gaining insight and
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  Speaker 2: comfort and hope, as you and I may do when
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  Speaker 2: we lose a loved one. When Isaiah walks in, he
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  Speaker 2: has this life changing experience and he sees the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Can you imagine we come to church and we see
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  Speaker 2: one another. But Isaiah went to the temple and he
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  Speaker 2: saw the Lord. He literally saw him. And where was he? Exalted?
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  Speaker 2: Lofty high and lifted up, and the long robe of
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  Speaker 2: the Lord filled the temple where Isaiah was. And if
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  Speaker 2: that wasn't enough, Isaiah looked around him and he saw
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  Speaker 2: the Seraphim, the Seraphim flying around the presence of the
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  Speaker 2: living God. Let me help you with this. There's a
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  Speaker 2: first heaven, a second heaven, and a third heaven. This
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  Speaker 2: is in the third heaven. This is in the throng
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  Speaker 2: Room of God, the Throne Room of God, the place
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  Speaker 2: you and I have never been. We can only imagine.
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  Speaker 2: Isaiah has been transported there in this vision, and he
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  Speaker 2: sees into the Throne Room the presence of Yahweh, the
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  Speaker 2: Lord himself, and along with that, his eyes are open
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  Speaker 2: to supernatural beings. I've said for years, if we could
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  Speaker 2: see the presence of angels, we would all be taken back.
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  Speaker 2: They fill this room, They fill your home, if yours
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  Speaker 2: is a home of believers. They accompany you on your journey,
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  Speaker 2: They watch over you. They they are your guardians and guides,
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  Speaker 2: even though you may not know they're there, and rarely
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  Speaker 2: do we even think of them. But Isaiah's eyes are
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  Speaker 2: opened and he sees these angelic creatures called seraphim. Saraf
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  Speaker 2: is the Hebrew word for burn, to burn. When Hebrews
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  Speaker 2: made words plural, they didn't add an s. We would
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  Speaker 2: say seraph's in our English language. In Hebrew, it's like
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  Speaker 2: cherubin cherubim. These are multiple angels, and we don't know
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  Speaker 2: their number. We don't know how many there were, But
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  Speaker 2: the Seraphim stood above the Lord please observe. Here and
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  Speaker 2: in verse six the only two places in all the
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  Speaker 2: Bible where seraphim are mentioned. There are various categories of angels,
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  Speaker 2: and that's another subject, but this category mentioned here only here.
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  Speaker 2: They are the white, hot, burning, brilliant presence of angelic
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  Speaker 2: creatures that fill the throne room of God and flood
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  Speaker 2: him with praise. We read they have two wings, and
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  Speaker 2: with two wings they cover their faces, and two other
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  Speaker 2: wings they cover their feet, and with the other two
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  Speaker 2: wings they are flying. They are flying. Imagine that sometime
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  Speaker 2: it helps just to have a little audio assistance. Thirty
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  Speaker 2: million of them just went by, and we didn't even notice.
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  Speaker 2: They are flooding the presence of the Lord God. I
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  Speaker 2: was asked earlier in the service. Is there any reason
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  Speaker 2: that they're covering their faces and their feet? We're not
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  Speaker 2: told why. Most likely feeling unworthy to be in the
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  Speaker 2: presence of the All Holy God, as you and I
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  Speaker 2: would feel. And with wings they cover their face, with
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  Speaker 2: wings they cover their feet, and with the other two
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  Speaker 2: they fly. Isaiah stands as you would have stood, with
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  Speaker 2: his mouth wide open in the temple, no longer preoccupied
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  Speaker 2: with his own grief and the loss of the king,
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  Speaker 2: realizing he is seeing what human eyes have never seen before.
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  Speaker 2: And if seeing them isn't enough, he heard from them
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  Speaker 2: one called to another. If you sing in choirs, you
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  Speaker 2: know the word antiphanos. That's where one part of the
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  Speaker 2: choir sings and then it's answered by another part of
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  Speaker 2: the choir. One set of voices will sing one set
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  Speaker 2: of lyrics, and the other will answer with another or
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  Speaker 2: perhaps the same set of lyrics. I've been waiting for
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  Speaker 2: months for this moment. We're gonna do that today. You're
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  Speaker 2: gonna be a seraph. Okay, right down the middle of
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  Speaker 2: this building. To your left, all of you are going
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  Speaker 2: to answer first with holy, holy Holy, And to this
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  Speaker 2: side on your right, you're going to answer back, holy,
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  Speaker 2: holy Holy. All right, look, angelic, here we go together,
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  Speaker 2: sing it, Holy holy, Holy, holy Holy. That's a start.
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  Speaker 2: You kind of half hearted with that. Let's put our
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  Speaker 2: hearts into it. Come on, shout it out here we go, Holy, holy, Holy, Holy,
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  Speaker 2: holy Holy. Think of being in the temple all alone,
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  Speaker 2: grieving and you suddenly hear a sound like that, and
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  Speaker 2: we've left out part of the whole earth is full
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  Speaker 2: of his glory. These angels are announcing, this is the
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  Speaker 2: Lord of Hosts, Isaiah, this is the Lord of Hosts.
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  Speaker 2: The whole earth is full of his glory. He is
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  Speaker 2: now standing stunned with their presence. And if that isn't enough,
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  Speaker 2: the foundations of the Threshold trembled today. We would say
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  Speaker 2: it was about seven point six on the Richter scale.
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  Speaker 2: The foundations of this stone temple shrieking, trembling, with the
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  Speaker 2: voice of the angelic creatures sounding like a thousand Niagara
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  Speaker 2: falls in one epical moment, and if that isn't enough,
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  Speaker 2: the building begins to be filled with smoke. Markable moment.
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  Speaker 2: I'd like to go on with the story, but it's
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  Speaker 2: time to pause and to let the wonder in as
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  Speaker 2: we rediscover a forgotten truth. Holy, Holy, Holy, the three
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  Speaker 2: times repeated suggests the idea of infinitely holy. What does
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  Speaker 2: it mean? J? I. Packer, in an outstanding book titled
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  Speaker 2: Knowing God, puts it very succinctly. The basic idea which
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  Speaker 2: the word holy expresses is that of separation or separateness.
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  Speaker 2: When God is declared to be holy, the thought is
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  Speaker 2: of all that separates him and sets him apart and
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  Speaker 2: makes him different from his creatures. An outstanding definition, it
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  Speaker 2: isn't spooky to talk of the holiness of God. It
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  Speaker 2: isn't It isn't so ethereal that you can't get your
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  Speaker 2: arms around it. It means God is separate from all
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  Speaker 2: the things that contaminate and aggravate and mark our lives,
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  Speaker 2: and his being infinitely holy means that there is an
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  Speaker 2: infinite sense of his purity. In fact, John writes in
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  Speaker 2: One John one to five God is light in him
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  Speaker 2: is what no darkness at all, we would say today,
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  Speaker 2: Not a trace of darkness, not a piece of dirt,
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  Speaker 2: not a hint of corruption or iniquity. God is light now,
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  Speaker 2: I would suggest, right about now, Isaiah is wide awake.
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  Speaker 2: Wouldn't you think? Wouldn't you think it wouldn't be business
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  Speaker 2: as usual? Right about now here is a simple prophet
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  Speaker 2: who has not yet uttered a word of prophecy. His
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  Speaker 2: whole life is in front of him. He's still young.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't know the Lord will use him to communicate
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  Speaker 2: more about the Messiah than any other prophet who would
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  Speaker 2: ever live. He doesn't know he is going to contribute
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  Speaker 2: one of the larger books to the entire Bible. He
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  Speaker 2: doesn't know what's in front of He doesn't know he's
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  Speaker 2: going to marry a prophetess, and the two of them
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  Speaker 2: will have two sons. He doesn't know that, ultimately, according
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  Speaker 2: to tradition, he would be sawn into as a martyr.
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  Speaker 2: He knows nothing like that. He is now, as we are,
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  Speaker 2: often in a moment of worship, lost in wonder and
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  Speaker 2: love and praise. The building is filling with smoke. The
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  Speaker 2: robe is filling the temple room. The angels are announcing
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  Speaker 2: back and forth. Holy, Holy, Holy, It's deafening. And all
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  Speaker 2: of a sudden things change. For Isaiah, woe is me,
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  Speaker 2: I'm ruined. One of the translations renders this, I'm finished.
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  Speaker 2: It's curtains. I mean being around this kind of holiness
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  Speaker 2: and hearing it said from the other angelic creatures, and
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  Speaker 2: seeing with my own eyes him sitting and blazing white
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  Speaker 2: light glory. Suddenly he realizes how unholy he is. No
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  Speaker 2: one points it out. I love that he spontaneously understands
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  Speaker 2: how distant he is from the one who is holy.
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  Speaker 2: He says, woe is me, I am ruined. Why Isaiah,
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  Speaker 2: why do you feel finished? Ruined? Well, look, he tells us,
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  Speaker 2: I am a man of unclean lips, and I live
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  Speaker 2: among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen
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  Speaker 2: the King, the Lord of hosts. I love the way
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  Speaker 2: the Living Bible renders this, My do, miss Seal, For
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  Speaker 2: I am a foul mouth sinner, a member of a
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  Speaker 2: foul mouth race. It may shock you for me to
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  Speaker 2: ask the question, but do you struggle with profanity. Don't
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  Speaker 2: answer outloud. Do you, in a moment of haste, blurt
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  Speaker 2: out some ugly word, some coarse statement. You're not proud
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  Speaker 2: of that, of course you're not. If you were in
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  Speaker 2: the presence of a holy God, you would suddenly be
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  Speaker 2: reminded of that foul statement you made. That's exactly where
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  Speaker 2: Isaiah is. This isn't just a nice word to fit
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  Speaker 2: into the scriptures so that God's people can read it
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  Speaker 2: down through the centuries. He is confessing his sin.
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  Speaker 1: That moment of exposure before a holy God is one
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  Speaker 1: every honest soul recognizes. Isaiah's instinct wasn't to argue or excuse.
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  Speaker 1: It was to confess. And when we truly grasp what
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  Speaker 1: holiness means, it changes everything. How we speak, how we live,
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  Speaker 1: how we see ourselves. This is insight for living. We're
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  Speaker 1: just getting started with Chucks Wendall's twelve part study on
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the attributes of God. He titled this series How Great
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Is Our God? As we begin this study together, we
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: invite you to take advantage of the bundle of resources
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: we have for digging deeper on your own. It includes
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the searching the scripture's Bible study workbook and the complete
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: collection of sermons on CD or MP three. To purchase
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: this bundle right now, go to insight dot org slash
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: offer Chuck. We're coming up on another milestone here at
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Inside for Living. On June thirtieth, we'll close the books
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: on another ministry year and step into our forty seventh
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  Speaker 1: year of ministry. At moments like these, it is so
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  Speaker 1: critical to remain laser focused on the one we serve.
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  Speaker 2: When Paul arrived in Corinth, he was fresh off a
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  Speaker 2: rough stretch. He'd just come from Athens, where the philosophers
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  Speaker 2: basically laughed him off the areopagus. If you've ever poured
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  Speaker 2: everything you had into something and watch people shrug and
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  Speaker 2: walk away, and if you've ever had a message fall
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  Speaker 2: completely flat, you know something of how Paul felt stepping
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  Speaker 2: into Corinth. And what did he decide quoting now, I
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  Speaker 2: determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: him crucified. He didn't concoct a new strategy, not a
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: better presentation, not something more sophisticated, more polished, more likely
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: to impress the intellectuals, just the cross. Here's what six
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: plus years of preaching has taught me. The moment I
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: start trying to be impressive, I've already missed the point.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: The goal has never been for you to walk away
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: thinking what a great communicator. It's for you to walk
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: away thinking what a great savior. There's a world of
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: difference between those two. That's the heartbeat of insight for living,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Always has been, always will be. I want every program,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: every single one, to be a place where someone has
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: a real encounter with a real savior, not a religious experience,
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: not a motivational moment, a genuine life altering collision with
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: the Cross. We proclaim. As we close out our fiscal
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: year on June thirtieth, I want to ask you something,
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: not to help us, but to consider the ministry you
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: personally have when you invest in this broadcast. Your gift travels,
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: It reaches languages I don't speak, countries I've never visited,
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: and people who've never heard the message. We take for granted.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: You send it, we broadcast it, and God does what
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: only God can do. Would you give today? The Cross
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: is worth it? My friend?
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: To respond to Chuck Swindahl, you can choose one of
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: several easy ways to give a donation. Many of our
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: listeners prefer to send a check in the mail. If
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: that's you, address your envelope to Insight for Living, post
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five three four.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: When you give today, we'll be saying thanks by providing
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: a brand new booklet from Chuck In the Cross, we
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: proclaim you'll discover why Jesus through the Cross doesn't ignore
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: your past, but redeems it. A copy is yours with
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: a gift to support Insight for Living. Our address again
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: is Post Office box five thousand, Frisco, Techis seven five
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: three four. You can also call us at eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight, or give
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: online at Insight dot org slash donate him Bill Meyer
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: join us when Chuckswyndall continues his series about the attributes
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: of God called How Great Is Our God? Monday on
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Insight for Living. The preceding message, The Holiness of God
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: was copyrighted in two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, twenty nineteen, and twenty twenty six, and the
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty six by Charles R.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.