Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Spot-On Advice from a Seasoned Coach Msg 710 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Spot-On Advice from a Seasoned Coach Msg 710 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How grateful we are to have in our own language,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: bound conveniently in a book, the whole word of God.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: How grateful we are for that. The Lord tells us
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: in the letter Paul wrote to Timothy that all scripture
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: is given by the inspiration of God. Not an inspiration
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: like one would have when writing a piece of music
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: or a few lines in a book, but a God-breathed-out,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: miraculous kind of inspiration. In fact, that is the word used.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: All scripture is God-breathed. Theopneustos. Theos. Neustos. God-breathed. And not
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: only has he given it to us, but he has
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: promised us that it is profitable to grow us up
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and make us into the women and men we long
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: to be. And without this guide, we are awash. We
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: live our lives adrift, looking for a North Star which
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: never appears. eternally, apart from what appears in this great
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: book we call the Scriptures. We're engaged in a wonderful
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: study of a letter Paul wrote to the people of Colossae.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Back in the first century, Paul was never there. The
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: name of the church never appears in the book that
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Sort of traces the journeys that Paul took. But we
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: know that he knew people who were from there. And
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: from them he learned of the needs there in that
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: little church. And he wrote them with their needs in mind.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: In our study, we have come now to the third chapter.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: And I invite you to locate that. Understand when Paul
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: wrote it, he did not write the letter in chapters
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and verses that's been provided by people who assist us
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: so that we can find our place in the scriptures easily.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: But he moved right out of what we call chapter
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: 2 right into chapter 3 with the same idea continuing
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: like you would write a letter from one paragraph to
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the next. We're looking at the first 14 verses of
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Colossians chapter 3 and I've given you an outline you
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: may want to place in your lap when we get
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: started in a few moments and use it as a
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: guide to keep us on target. Once you find your place,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: please stand with me for the reading of the scriptures.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the New Living Translation. This is
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the Word of God. Since you have been raised to
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: not the things of earth. For you died to this life,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed, To
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: the whole world you will share in all his glory. So,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: put to death the sinful earthly things lurking within you.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: to do these things when your life was still part
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: of this world, but now is the time to get
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: your old nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: your new nature. And be renewed as you learn to
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: know your creator and become like him. In this new life,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Circumcised or uncircumcised. Barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free. Christ is
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: all that matters. And he lives in all of us.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults and forgive
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: you must forgive others above all Clothe yourselves with love,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: which binds us all together in perfect harmony. Our desire
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: this morning is that our eyes would be open to
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: what's been printed on these pages. Our minds would be
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: able to grasp what the print on the pages means.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: And then our hearts would be ready to put that
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: into action. And as you can already see, there's a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: lot of homework here for us to carry out. Please
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: be seated. You know, it occurs to me as we
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: were sitting and listening to the music of our choir singing,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: We Are the Church, O Christ. You are our head
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: and we are the body. It occurs to me in
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: light of what we just read, which is written to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: God's people, the universal church, that you could be misled
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: if you're not a Christian. You could easily fall into
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the trap of thinking because I'm around people who love
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: to sing like this and enjoy, obviously enjoy each other
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: and find great delight in worship, I'm in. So the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: offering time comes and you start thinking a C. Oh,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I really need to give a what today because I'm
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: not living like I should and maybe that'll help God
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: smile on me since I'm a part of this group.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: You're really not. I'd love to have you. We all
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: would love to have you in the family, but that
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: happens by faith in Christ. It's that simple. It doesn't
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: happen because you sing with other people or you come
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: to the church where his name is proclaimed or because
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: you give. So let's kind of keep it simple. You're
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: without Christ. Don't even think about giving. Think only about receiving.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: God's given you a gift, and he was once nailed
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: on a cross. The cross is now empty because he's
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: come down from the cross, having paid the complete penalty
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: for all our sins, past, present, and future. And then
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: when you come to know Christ, which is a simple
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: matter of trusting in the Lord Jesus, you can have
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the absolute delight of giving and giving and giving and giving. Yourself,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: your service, your time, your money. In fact, that's why
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: folks around you are so happy. They know what it
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: means to be changed from a taker to a giver.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: We'd so love to have you. Before you leave this
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: place today, a member of his great church, family of God.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Let's be still before him. Let's close our eyes.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Let's be still.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: In the silence of this room, our Father, we acknowledge
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: your presence. Our head, the Lord Jesus. watches over all
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: of those of us who worship. His angels are on tiptoe,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: learning what worship on this earth is, which they do
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: not participate in, Having not been redeemed. As we have been.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: But they serve you. And they learn from us. And
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: we are still before you today. Learning again that you
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: are God. You are the God of our disappointments. As
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: much as the God of our dreams. God of our successes.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: As much as the God of our failures. The God
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: of our gains. And the God of our losses. The
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: God of our laughter. And the God.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Of our grief.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: May our souls be still. Before you. Our sovereign. God.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: What a pleasure it is to give you our gifts.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: With them come our hearts and our lives. Give us
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the kind of determination to live for you as those
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: five widows had, having said farewell to their husbands in
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: that land far away. Be still, my soul.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: The Lord is on your side. We worship you, Father.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: In the name of Christ, we pray. Everyone said, amen.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: True or false? False. Here we go. True or false?
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Experience is the best teacher. Now wait, wait. I'm already
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: hearing true from a lot of folks here. Think about it.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Is experience really the best teacher? Well, you want to cook.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: So you get all the stuff together, you watch a
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: few TV shows and you Start mixing it all up.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: And you cook it. Nobody wants to eat it. Because
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: you didn't cook it with somebody helping you know how
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: to cook. You get in the sailboat. You're all alone.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: It looks so exciting. Sails furled. You're out in the ocean.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Then they call the Coast Guard. Because you didn't have
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: anybody to tell you how to sail the boat. You
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: needed a guide. If you're going to lay a brick
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: wall or if you're going to build a fence or whatever,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: you're going to cultivate your athletic skills. You need a guide.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: How about driving? Driving. I learned to drive out in
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the country. The neighbor behind us had a tractor and
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I got on it. I'm glad there wasn't a fence
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: nearby because I went all over the place. And then
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I thought, well, I could do this in a car.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: I couldn't. And my mother thought she could teach us,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: but she spent all her time screaming. And so my
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: dad decided he should be the one to teach. You've
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: got to have a guide if you're going to know
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: how to drive. So guided experience is the best teacher, right?
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Whether you're young or older, we all need coaches. That's
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the word now. Coaches. People who help us out. I
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: came across a great letter from a kid who is
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: a tenderfoot scout. And he has a coach and a
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: scoutmaster named Walt. This kid's name is Cole. And Cole
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: writes his parents this letter from scout camp while they're
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: away for a two-week trip Dear mom and dad, our
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: scoutmaster told us to write our parents in case you
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: saw the flood on TV and are worried. We're okay.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Only one of our tents and two sleeping bags got
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: washed away in the flood. Luckily, none of us got
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: drowned because we were all up on a mountain looking
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: for Chad when it happened. Oh yeah, please call Chad's
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: mother and tell her he's okay. He can't ride her
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: because of the cast. I got to ride in one
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: of the search and rescue jeeps. It was neat. We
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: never would have found him in the dark if it
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: hadn't been for the lightning. Our scoutmaster, Walt, got mad
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: at Chad for going on a hike all alone without
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: telling anyone. Chad said he would tell him, but it
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: was during the fire, so he probably didn't hear him.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Did you know that if you put gas on a fire,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: the gas can will blow up? The wet wood didn't burn,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: but one of the tents did. David's going to look
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: weird until half his hair grows back. We'll be home
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: on Saturday if Scoutmaster Walt gets the car fixed. It
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked okay.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: When we left, Scoutmaster Walt said that with a car
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: that old, you have to expect something like that to
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: break down. That's probably why he can't get any insurance.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: We think it's a neat car. He doesn't care if
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: we get it dirty and if it's hot. He lets
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: us ride on the fenders. It gets pretty hot with
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: 10 people in the same car, so he lets some
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: of us ride in the trailer. And the highway patrolman
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: stopped us and talked to Walt about some things, so
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: we don't do that anymore. Scoutmaster Walt is a neat guy.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: He's a good driver. In fact, he's teaching Terry how
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: to drive on the mountain roads where they don't have
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: much traffic. Did you know you don't need guardrails on
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: roads that don't have much traffic? All we see up
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: there are logging trucks. This morning, all the guys were
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Scoutmaster Walt wouldn't let me because I can't swim. And
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Chad was afraid he'd sink because of his cast. So
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: he let us take the canoe by ourselves across the lake.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: It was great. You can still see some of the
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: trees under the water from the flood. Scoutmaster Walt isn't
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: our losing the life jackets. He has to spend a
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: lot of time working on the car, so we're trying
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: not to cause any trouble. Guess what? We have all
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: passed our first tenderfoot first aid merit badges. When Dave
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: drove on the lake and cut his arm, we got
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: to see how a tourniquet worked. Wade and I threw up,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: but Scoutmaster Waltz said it probably was just food poisoning
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: from the leftover chicken. He said they got sick that
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: way with food they ate in prison. I'm so glad
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: he got out and became our Scoutmaster. He said he
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: sure figured out how to get things done while he
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: was in a slammer doing time. I have to go now.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: We're going to go downtown, mail letters, and buy bullets.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite lines. We're going to go
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: buy bullets. But don't worry about everything, Mom. Don't worry.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: We're all fine. Love, Cole. If my son ever wrote
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: me that letter, after killing Walt, I would rescue my son.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing? So I need to change my opening comments.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Qualified guidance. with experience is the best teacher, which brings
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: us to Coach Paul. Now, you may have never heard
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: of him called that, but that's what he was. He was,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: we call him a mentor, which is our big time
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: name for it. He's a coach. He spent his time
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: guiding people into the direction they should go in life.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: And he's gifted to do that, not only by how
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: he lives his life, And what he says to them
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: when he's around them, but what he writes. And here
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: we have preserved for us in this inspired book, the
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: letters Paul wrote from one group of people to another.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Isn't it amazing? Even though we don't know one of
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: these people, even though most of us would never be
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: in one of these places, when you read through the
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: coach's words, it's like he's been reading your mail. It's
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: like he's been all over your life. watching noticing things
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: that need to be tweaked other things that need to
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: be stopped a few things that need to get started
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and along the way even what to wear in the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: process let me show you how this is all put
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: together Like a great coach, he starts with their brains,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: with their heads. He tells them where to look, what
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to focus on, verses 1 to 4. He tells us,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: as well as them, what to think about. Okay? What
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: to think about. And then, having told him that, he
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: realizes the stuff they're going through, they're in that first
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: century difficult place, just like The Lord knows what we're
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: going through, where we are today. And in verses 5
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: through 9, he tells us what to get rid of.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Because like a good coach, if we don't get rid
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: of these things, we'll never play the game right. So
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: we've got to get rid of some stuff in order
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to take on some things. Now, there needs to be
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: a transition between getting rid of and taking on some things.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: And that's why we have verses 10 and 11. Here
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: are some things that help us know how to start over.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: We start over in a whole new direction, having lived
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: another way. Well, all the habits and all the things
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: we used to do, we're now turning around and we're
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: going in another direction. And once we get in that direction,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: here's what we're supposed to wear. Isn't that amazing? He
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: covers that base, verses 12 to 14. After telling us
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: what to think about, telling us what to get rid of,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: telling us how to start over in this new life,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the coach adds, here's what you wear. These are the
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: garments that will get you into a whole new frame
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: of life that you've never known before. So let's kind
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: of click that off, okay? One, two, three, four. Verses
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: one to four, here's what to think about. Since you've
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: been raised to new life with Christ. Now, if you
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: weren't here the last time and you didn't hear what
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: we had to say about new life in Christ, chapter two,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: you don't know what that's all about. The point is,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: when you come to Christ, he gives you a whole
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: new set of inside organs, and they're spiritual in nature.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: He gives us a whole new life, which he talks
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: about in chapter 2. It's not a life made up
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: of rules and regulations other people give you. It's a
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: life spelled out very clearly in his word. And so
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: he says, since we've now been raised to new life
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: with Christ, look up. Look up, set your sights on
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: things above, on the realities of heaven where Christ sits
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: in the place of honor at God's right hand. Maybe
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: you didn't know that. This is what happened to Christ
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: when he ascended. He died on the cross. He was buried.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: He miraculously and bodily rose from the grave. He was
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: on earth a few more days and then zip, he's
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: off like a whoosh into heaven. And when he goes
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: back to the place where he originated, right back there,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: he sits down at the right hand of the throne
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: of God. And he rules in a sitting position. Our
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Savior is sitting at the Father's right hand. In fact,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: he says, for you, you died to this old life
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: In fact, you're so identified with Christ, who is your life,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: that when he comes and changes the whole world, you
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: will share in his glory. That's what the first four
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: verses are all about. Look up. Set your affection, set
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: your thoughts, set your attention, your focus on him, not
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: on the things of the earth. I have a good
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: friend named Skip Hall. Skip was a wonderful coach for years.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: And while a coach, he was involved in the Rose
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Bowl winning Washington Huskies team. He wasn't the head coach
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: of that team, but he was on the staff. And
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: he's told me about that. And then he was at Missouri.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: He was also coaching a team in Idaho. Very widely experienced.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: He's now hung up his cleats and he's retired. But
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: he still remembers the life of a coach. And when
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: you're with Skip Hall, you get coach kind of talk.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: So he says to me, Chuck, let me tell you
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest things I ever learned as a coach.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I need to coach them up. It's the coaches' plan
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: with the team to coach them up. You don't coach
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: them down. You don't land on them constantly with all
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the things they're doing wrong. You coach them up. You
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: coach them up. And he said to me, you've got
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the same calling. As a pastor, never forget, Chuck, the
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: importance of coaching them up. Verses 1 to 4 are
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: all about coaching them up. Look up, don't look down.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Focus on Christ, not the stuff that goes on around you.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: All the stuff that goes on around you will weary
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: you and discourage you and depress you and disappoint you
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: and leave you longing for something different. But when you
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: set your sights on the realities of Christ and think
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: about the things of heaven, it is remarkable what happens.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: This past week, we've gone through a time of real
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: grief as a staff. One of our own beloved staff members,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Barry Buchanan, suffered from brain cancer and had gone through
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: suffering for the longest time. We prayed with him and
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: alongside him, and he was such an encouragement to all
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: of us. And then this last surgery, he didn't survive.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: His service is tomorrow. And several of us on the
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: staff are going to reflect on some of the things
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: that Barry brought to us when he was among us.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: And one of them was the ability to keep looking up.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: He didn't want pity. He didn't want us to feel
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: sorry for him. He said to us, you are my family,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: almost as close as my own wife and two daughters.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: And he said, I just want you to remember, if
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: I don't survive this, help everybody around you to keep
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: looking up. He even coached us up to the very end.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: The apostle says, set your sights on the realities of heaven.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: The next time you're in a slump or a funk
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and you can't seem to pull out of it, look
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: at your sights. Look at your focus. Turn it in
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: a vertical direction and get out of the horizontal frame
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of mind. Now, with that in mind, there's some things
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: we need to lay aside. We've all formed bad habits.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Not everyone was raised well. You picked up some things
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: that you should not have from those you ran around
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: with or those you went to school with. Or who knows,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: maybe from your own mom and dad who weren't that
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: great parents. I don't know. But whatever it was that
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: built into you a way of life, you need to
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: come to terms with those things that drag you down
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: and you need to get rid of it. Now, how
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: do I know that's what this theme is on? Look
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: at verse 5. Put to death the sinful earthly things
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: lurking within you. See the next phrase? Have nothing to
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: do with. See that? A little further on, verse 8,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: now's the time to get rid of. When you see
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: words like that, later he says this is stripped off
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: of your old nature. This is taking out of our
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: life the things that will hurt us and drain us
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: of victory and keep us from knowing what it is
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: to walk successfully in the life of Christ. So let's
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: go there. Here are the things that we need to
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: get rid of. I see them in three groups.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: Okay?
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: First is a group of sensual things. Next is a
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: group of materialistic things. And you'll see the third is
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: a group of verbal, verbal habits. The emotional part of
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: our lives, which has to do with anger and maliciousness.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: But first, let's look at the sensual. Put to death
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: the sinful earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: do with. Did you get the word nothing? Have nothing
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: to do with. have nothing to do with, then he
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: names it. Sexual immorality, have nothing to do with it. Impurity,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: have nothing to do with it. Lust, have nothing to
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: do with it. And epithumia kakos. Epithumia is the word
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: for desires. When you have the word kakos with it,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: it means evil. So it could be a desire of
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: any kind. In this case, he's He's conditioned it with
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the word evil. Have nothing to do with even the
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: desires that are evil. Get rid of those things. Why
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: is that such a big deal to the people in Colossae?
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Because they live in Colossae, which happens to be in
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the first century. Listen to what one man writes about it.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Chastity was the one completely new virtue Christianity brought into
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the world. In the ancient world, sexual relationships before marriage,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: outside of marriage, were the norm and accepted. practice. The
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: sexual appetite was regarded as a thing to be gratified,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: not to be controlled. That is an attitude which is
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: not unfamiliar today.
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: He adds.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: But the Christian ethic insists on chastity, regarding the physical
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: relationship between the sexes as something so precious that indiscriminate
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: use of it in the end spoils it. He's right.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: That's why he says have nothing to do with it.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: You can't play with it and not have it affect you.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: You can't participate in it a little while and then
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: get away from it for a little while and not
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: have it drag you down. So he uses the word
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: nothing on purpose. have nothing to do with these things
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: that characterize the world around us. Okay? That's the first group.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Here's the second. Don't be greedy. For a greedy person
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: is an idolater. What an interesting turn of phrase. Listen
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: to the coach. If you let greed take over, it
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: isn't long before you're idolizing the things You're groping for.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: And trying to reach and hang on to. Remember, he's
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: writing about things that we need to get rid of.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Get rid of pleonexia. Great big Greek word. Pleon means more.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: And ekain means to have. Put the words together, it
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: means to have more. And more. And more. It's a
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: picture of materialism. Don't be searching for more and trying
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: to get more. For a person who does that is
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: an idolater, and ultimately you wind up worshiping the things
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: of this world. In a hard-hitting book titled Money, Sex,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: and Power, how's that for a title? Richard Foster writes this,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: compulsive extravagance is a modern mania. The contemporary lust for more, more,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: more is clearly psychotic. It has completely lost touch with reality.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: And we live in that kind of world. Enough is
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: never enough. A promotion is never high enough. A salary
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: is never great enough. Things are not numerous enough. And
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: we wind up worshiping those things that really are more
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: than we find in any part of the third world.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: We are a very spoiled people. We have more and
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: more of what the world has less and less of.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: And we want more if we're not careful. He says,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: cut it out. Get rid of it. In fact, he
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: goes on, you used to do these things, verse 7,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: when your life was still a part of this world.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: But see, he's writing to Christians. Now is the time
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: to get rid of, and he goes to the third group.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: The first was sensual things. The next would be materialistic things.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: And the third in the group, set of groups, would
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: be these areas of our emotions and words out of control.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Look at it. Now's the time to get rid of. Anger.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Let's don't go too fast through this list. This word
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: translated anger is orge, and it means a long-lasting, slow-burning anger.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: We sometimes refer to it as seething. Some people have
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: a seething vat of anger just under the surface. On occasion,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: you will see evidence of it, but they kind of
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: live as an angry person. We refer to people like
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: that as needing anger management because they live in the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: realm of the angry. And he warns us against that,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: says get rid of that long-lasting, slow-burning fuse that refuses
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: to let go and give up. The second is the
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: word for outbursts of anger. We call this temper. It's
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: correctly rendered rage. We have the words road rage. That's
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: not a seething low-level anger. That is an abrupt violent
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: act that lashes out on the road when somebody cuts
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: in on your lane or somebody gets to the light
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: or holds up the light before you're able to make
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: it and then they go across while it's yellow and
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: then you don't get to make it. And if you're
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: not careful, you catch up with them and then bad
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: things happen. It's called rage. You may live with a
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: person who's given to rage. If you are that person,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: this is written to you. Get rid of anger, rage.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Here's a third one, malicious behavior. This is a viciousness
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: of mind that plans evil against another person. In fact,
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: it rejoices when misery falls on that individual. We call
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: that individual a malicious person, and that may be your weakness.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: If it is, It's time to get rid of it.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: Malicious behavior has no place in the Christian's life. It'll
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: not only ruin your life, it'll ruin your marriage if
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: you happen to be married. It'll ruin your family relationships
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: if you happen to have a family. Malicious behavior. And
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: then he goes to slander, which everybody understands. And then
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: he coins a word and used nowhere else in all
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the New Testament translated in this version of Dirty language.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: It's a word for dishonoring words. Abusive words. Words that shame.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Perhaps our best synonym would be obscene. Language that is obscene.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Get rid of it. This is Coach Paul instructing all
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: of us as our very qualified guide through life. And
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: he's saying, set your sights vertically, not horizontally. Once they're set,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: rid yourself of the things that drag you down. Sensual things,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: materialistic things, and these things that are in the realm
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: of anger and slander and dirty language. I left out
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: one of the group I saved it for the last
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: here in this group. Don't lie to each other. By
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: the way, isn't it interesting? He's writing to Christians. It's
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: easy to you to think as you sit there, I
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: wish my neighbor were here to hear what's being said
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: from our pulpit that he or she needs to hear.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: This is not written to your neighbor. It's written to you.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: You know, the harshest letters I've ever received, I've received
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: from fellow Christians. You know, the ugliest words ever said
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: to me have been said to me by fellow Christians.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: The worst things done to me have been done to
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: me by so-called brothers and or sisters in the family
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: of God. Frankly, Some folks who lie more often than
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: they tell the truth are often Christians. Stunning, isn't it?
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: It's a tough one to hear. I, on occasion, will
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: marry a couple and I always ask for the opportunity
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: to do some premarital counseling. They always think it's going
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: to be great because they're getting ready to get married
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: and everything.
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: Is honeymoon and fine. And it's going to be one
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: ring after another. And it's going to be a joy.
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: And I can't wait for us to make love. And
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: it's going to be so great. And then I say,
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: I'd like to meet with you. And I'd like to
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: talk to you about some things. When I get through
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: with them, it's like, do we really want to go
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: through with this? See, I bring them to reality. And
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: one of the first things I address is they're lying
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: to each other. We learn to lie to.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Each other when we date. You do that when you're dating.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: The bride-to-be loves the symphony. You hate it. She says,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: we're going to go to the symphony Friday night. You go, oh,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: I love the symphony. That'd be great. That's wonderful. You
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: line right through the lips, and you go, and you
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: hate it. Then you get married, and she says, let's
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: go to the symphony. You say, what are you smoking?
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: You smoke it. There's no way I'm going to be
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: interested in going to sin. But you went with me.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I know, but what you did was lie. Teaching people
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: to talk the truth is one of the most difficult
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: things in the world. Some of you regularly lie to
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: your married partners, even though you're married to them. You
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: regularly tell them something that isn't true. I mean, no,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to give that illustration. That's not a
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: good illustration I'm not going to go there. Not a
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: good one for me to say publicly. But I'm going
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: to tell you, chances are good you have a problem.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: It may be as mild as exaggeration. Or your slander
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: may be a hidden prejudice. You just are careful where
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: you use those words. But it's down deep. And you
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: haven't dug it out. Back to the story about marriage
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: and all of that. We have a very, very good
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: friend who became missionary. He and his wife. Shortly after
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: they married, they were in a terrible auto accident. Both
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: of them were thrown from the car. Cars totaled. Her vertebrae,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: the one that paralyzes your limbs, was the one that broke.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: And she became, even though just weeks, months along in
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: the marriage, a quadriplegic. Every time I marry a couple,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I tell them about my friends who had that to
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: face shortly after they had been at the altar. And
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: for the rest of his life, he has a wife
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: who cannot move arms or legs. When he talks about
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: love and commitment, it's a whole new level. When I
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: tell that story to people that are going to get married,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: they're like, and they look like, but that's not going
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: to happen. I say, you don't know. You don't know
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: what's going to happen But your love, which is really commitment,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: that's what we want to talk about, has to bypass
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: all physical disabilities, all emotional battles. You may marry a
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: man who within a matter of months falls into a
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: depression and needs serious counseling, serious work, and he's no
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: longer the man you thought he was. And you're married.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: That's why later on in the passage when it says
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: love is the one thing that binds us together, that's
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: the one you've got to search real carefully. But get
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: rid of all lying. If you've begun to form the
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: habit of lying, that's a great habit to stop as
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: of today. Get rid of it. Have it no longer
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: a part of your life. And then we come to
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: this transition. Now that we've gotten clearly in mind that
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: we're to be coaching them up, we're to be focusing
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: on the vertical. Now that we understand the things that
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: ought to be laid aside, we're going to go through
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: a transition. That's verses 10 and 11. Put on your
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: new nature and be renewed as you learn to know
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: your creator and become like him. Isn't that a great line?
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: You got a new nature, so act like it. Kick
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: it into action. Get it underway, let it take over
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: your life, and be renewed as you learn to know
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: the God you say you believe in. In fact, there's
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: another letter that Paul wrote where he says, mimic God.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: I love that line. Learn the things that characterize your
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: God and then begin to live like that. As you
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: get to know him, you learn of him, your creator,
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: and your goal now in this transition is to start
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: becoming like him. And he is the ideal model to follow.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: Verse 11. In this new life, it doesn't matter. And
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: look at the list. If you're Jew or Gentile, circumcised
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: or uncircumcised, that doesn't mean a lot to us because
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: we're all Gentiles. Most of us here are Gentiles. many
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: of those reading the letter were Jewish. And all their lives,
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: the Gentile was the dog, the mangy dog. The Roman
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: was the swine. That's how they were raised. But if
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: the person who is a Gentile trusts in Christ, he's
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: a member of the same family, for goodness sake. Whether
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: Jew or Gentile, whether circumcised or uncircumcised. The barrier is down.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: And he's describing it so that you realize you can't
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: hide behind the fact that, you know, we're of different
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: races or we're of different backgrounds. That's what it's all about.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: That's what makes the family so exciting. To live in
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: this family is a place that you don't live freely
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: in any other area of life. There are lines of demarcation.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: In fact, look at the third one in the list.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: There's no longer the uncircumcised or the barbaric. You know
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: what a person of that day would call a person
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: who was uneducated and rather crude? They would refer to
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: them as barbar, barbar, barbar. That's the word they used
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: for them. And they came to be known as barbaric.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: A person may come from that background. Not a lot
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: of seasoning. Not a lot of class. Very different from
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: the way you were raised. Maybe you were taught good
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: manners and you weren't raised, you didn't have to raise
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: yourself like a lot of them do. But he said
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: we're all in the same family. Barbarian, uncivilized. Look at
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: slave or free. When was the last time you were
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: in a slave market? Probably never. Unless we refer to
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: slave traffic, which by the way is everywhere. But in
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: these days it wasn't hidden. It wasn't a secret kept
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: by those who traffic in that realm. It was public.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: Your slave, your mark, often branded. He says in the
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: family of God, doesn't matter if your background is slave.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: You have the marks of shackles on your wrist. Doesn't matter.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: You're in the family. You see, when you go through
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: this transition, you begin to look at people with new eyes.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: And you don't care about their color. You don't. Doesn't
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: bother you that their background is so, so different from
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: your background. You are thrilled they're in the family. Only
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: Christ can blend together lives like this. So he writes
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: to people in Colossae who have been raised so prejudiced
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: toward a body of people. In fact, look at how
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: it ends. Christ is all that matters and he lives
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: in all of us. Things equal to the same thing
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: are equal to each other. Perfect example is Christ. Now then,
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: we've made the transition. We're on our way to a
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: new way of life. Look at the garments we're to wear.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: In fact, these are, if you will, threads that are
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: woven into the garment that we're to wear. Since God
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: chose you to be the holy people he loves, don't
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: miss that. Set apart to him people he loves. You
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: must clothe yourself with these eight qualities. Last time I
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: talked about a list you need to ignore, pay no
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: attention to since it represents a legalistic standard someone's trying
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: to force on you. This is not legalism. This is
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: a good list written under the inspiration of the Spirit
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: of God. And here are the eight. Here are the
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: things to put in your new garment. Tenderhearted mercy. Say,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: you know what, Chuck? I wasn't raised to be tenderhearted.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not asking how you were raised. I'm talking to
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: you about your new family. I'm coaching you, or Paul is,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: in a whole new way of life. Tenderhearted mercy is appropriate.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: In fact, essential for us to get along in this
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: divergent family. Look at the next one. Kindness. Wouldn't it
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: be great if everyone were just kind? I love the
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: way my sister puts it. She says on occasion, I
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: just wish that everyone were nice. Just be nice. It'll
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: shock some folks, but it's good for them to realize
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: you've got a nice side. Maybe you've had to be
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: tough to make it through your life. There's a place
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: for tough, and it isn't in the family. He says,
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: be kind. How about humility? Humility disarms everyone around us.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: where there's pride everywhere on occasion, you'll meet someone genuinely humble.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: I read about a headmaster of a school that was
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: a wonderful man that everyone loved. One of his characteristics
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: is humility. And they have placed these people getting awards
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: in a line, and the others in front of him
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: were walking onto the stage, and then they said, and
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: now to the one we consider the most humble individual
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: in the school, and he steps back and asks the
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: lady behind him to take the stage. Everybody else is applauding.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: He's applauding her. How great it is that they recognize
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: that humility is in her. That's humility. Not looking for
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: the applause yourself, not expecting it being surprised by it
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: in fact here is a humility as a part of
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: the garment gentleness patience we're not going to stay there
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: very long let's move right on to verse 13 the
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: next one i would call forbearance Forbearance would be number six.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Making allowance for each other's faults. You need to do that.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: You need to make room for that. Leave people to
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: catch up on their own. Bear with them and then
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: forgive them, those who offend you. Forgive them. Right now,
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: if you're not careful, you are massaging a list of things.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: That you don't like in certain individuals. And you've got
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: those people in the black book of your mind. Get
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: rid of the black book. When you hear the name,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: don't think first of something you don't like about them.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: Forgive that. If anyone offends you, forgive it. Get past it.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: And above all, here it is, clothe yourself with love.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: You know how we all benefit from these things? We
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: all benefit from it because we are not only the
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: recipients of these things, we are models of these things.
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: And we become the guide for others to learn from.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: How helpful is that? Think of yourself not simply as
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: a recipient of these great qualities, thanks to the grace
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: of God, but now as one who can be a mentor.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: And you began by teaching them to your own children.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: And then you spread that to your circle of friends
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: and fellow believers that you have in your life. And
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: before long, you have changed the whole perspective in the
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: lives of us. I got to tell you, and I
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: close with these comments, I don't know that there's anything
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: more valuable regarding attitude than the right perspective. How we
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: look at things makes all the difference. It leads to
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: whether we look forward to something or dread something. It's
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: whether we're excited about something or we would wish it
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: would never happen. Perspective. We held our Insight for Living
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: board meeting this past week. It happened to fall right
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: at the anniversary of D-Day. happens to be the 70th anniversary,
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: which I hope you did take time to pause and
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: give God thanks for the heroes who flooded that beach
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: in Normandy and those who flew planes and gliders and
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: those who parachuted into dangerous places. The whole turning point
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: of the war, you watched Saving Private Ryan and Unless
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: I missed my guess, that first 30 minutes you had
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: to look away a time or two. It's so raw.
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: One of our board members told us that his father
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: was one of the very first ones that jumped into
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: the darkness of night and landed by parachute, of all places,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: in a tree. Think of it. You're already marked because
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: there's this massive parachute above you, and now you're hanging
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: in a tree, somehow was able to slide down without
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: being detected, and then lived to tell the story of
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: the fight. Another one of our board members passed along
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: to me, happens to be a lieutenant general retired in
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: the Air Force, and he said, I got a story, Chuck,
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: that I think you would love. It's about perspective. And
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: I thought, boy, thanks, Gary, you gave me my conclusion.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: This is it. This is what I need. Two veterans
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: of D-Day were being interviewed for a program commemorating the
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: anniversary of the Allied assault to defeat Nazi Germany and
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: restore freedom to Europe. One of the men had fought
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: the battle on the ground on Omaha Beach. The other
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: fought it in the air high above the seashore. The
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: first man described the scene on the sands of Omaha
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: Beach as it was depicted in the movie Saving Private Ryan.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: He saw nothing but his compatriots dropping all around him,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: one after another. And to him, it looked hopeless. In despair,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: he kept telling himself, we're going to lose. We're going
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: to lose. That's how he felt in the heat of
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: the battle that day. But the other man, the pilot,
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: saw something completely different. He saw the movement of the
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: troops on the beach. He saw some of them taking
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: this particular area that was once held by the Nazis
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: and overthrowing them, silencing that gun, and then taking another one.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: And he remembered saying out loud in the cockpit of
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: the plane, We're going to win! We're going to win!
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: We're going to win! Same battle, opposite perspective. And I
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: will tell you without reservation or hesitation, you make your
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: focus a vertical focus, and your life will be spent
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: repeating the words, we're going to win, because we will.
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: You turn it to the horizontal in focus, on all
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: of the stuff happening around you, all the bad news,
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: all the sad news, all the disappointments, all the disease,
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: all the deaths. And if you're not careful, you'll spend
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: your life thinking, we'll never make it. I'm not going
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: to make it. I'm on a losing effort here. We're
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: going to lose. The coach tells us how to win
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: by telling us where to fix our focus, what to
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: get rid of, how to turn a corner to live
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: a whole new way, and then ultimately, even the garments
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: to wear that turn us into the kind of people
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: known for their love for one another. Amen? Amen. You
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: are awake. Good. Bow with me, will you please? How
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: thankful we are, our Father, how grateful we are that
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: Christ is our all in all. We thank you that
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: having won the victory, he sat down. And being in him,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: the victory is ours. Not to plead for, not to
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: hope for, not even to fight for, but to claim.
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: Help us to know how to do that in a
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: way that keeps us from being passive and out of touch.
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: and indifferent. Give us a focused life filled with being
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: free of the things that would hurt us and embracing
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: the things that would make us strong as we turn
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: our hearts toward you, reminding ourselves again and again we're
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: going to win.
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: We're going to win.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you for that promise and thank you for the
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: truth that we have learned from a book that is
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: as timeless as it is true, your word. May these
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: verses from Colossians 3 become a part of the way
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: we live and even how we die. In the name
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: of Christ, our matchless Savior, we pray. Everyone said, Amen.
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, spot-on advice from a seasoned coach. was
• 57:47
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in 2014 and 2022, and the sound recording was
• 57:51
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in 2022 by Charles Arswendal, Inc. All rights are
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: strictly prohibited.