Making the Most of Everyday - Charles R. Swindoll

though I can't imagine there are any of you but in case you have never heard of our speaker we have counselling services available for you but dr. Chuck Swindoll serves as our Chancellor which in our setup is not an administrative post but it is a an involvement post and an honorary post of involvement to which he commits time to the seminary and we are very grateful for it and reimburse him at a token level for all that he does for us but it's a connection that we love and appreciate it continuing he speaks on our behalf he writes on our behalf and especially he loves addressing you here in Chapel in extending the ministry of the word through these types of settings prior to becoming Chancellor he served as our seminaries fourth president he's the founding pastor of the Stonebriar Community Church and they are soon to celebrate 15 years of existence already and his desire was to establish a church that had solid biblical foundation based on the faithful exposition of the scripture and his of his vision includes not only corporate worship but an emphasis on small group ministries that provide encouragement and accountability in the body he is big on application as you know he's the author of more than 50 books he's the featured Bible teacher on the popular radio net mp3 you name it kind of media for insight for living around the world and it's aired some 2,000 times every single day all over the globe he's married to his life partner Cynthia and they reside here in the Metroplex and the love spending time with their four grown children ten grandchildren two great-grandchildren but all of us have learned from him have stolen illustrations from him the danger of preaching any of his sermons as everybody else has heard them already but would you join me in welcoming to our platform today our Chancellor chuck swindoll as s mark what is mp3 I have no idea with that he's on the mp3 that's great well first of all I want to know where the faculty are so I won't look at them are they oh they're over there all right I'm going to focus here normally they're up here facing you know the speaker which is always intimidating I'm also pleased to find out what a chancellor is I have a very bright grandson who said to me not long ago Obama isn't a chant was it Hitler Chancellor yeah yeah it's great to be back with all of you and you and the sleeping-porch over there great to have you a part of this chapel this is a nice substitute place together and to worship and to be instructed well today we thought about it 12 years ago this morning we were as quiet in the chapel as we are right now we were shocked our whole world changed and would never be the same again because of savages who in a cowardly manner killed over 3,000 of our wonderful citizens and friends from around the world and we're still chasing them down we're still dealing with it and it reminds me of a comment that I have made before and will make again today there are two great days in everybody's life first is the day that were born and second is the day we realize why george w bush was born in july of 1946 he realized why on 9/11/2001 each one of you has a birthday it's a physical date you can you can celebrate it every year and each year as you get a year older you realize the grace of God that's been at work in your life I just ran into Bill Lawrence over here and he and I go back to those early days at the school and and we talked about his years at the row houses in Philadelphia where where he was born and raised and and he and I both said you believe what God has done over the years and we just had a sudden moment when we realized why we had been born I got a list of other examples David was born to lead Israel as its greatest king they still have the flag that represents that symbol the sign of David they still called a city the City of David this is why he was born Mozart Bach Beethoven we can date them in their birthday but they were born to compose timeless ageless music that would be played through our generation and in generations to come Michelangelo was born to sculpt and to paint Henry Ford born to develop the whole idea of a motorized vehicle that would be built and and duplicated over and over and over again to this day cars bear his name you too were born but many of you don't yet realize why it's not an it's it's not a criticism sult it's just a fact you've yet to realize why you've been brought onto this earth you you will be in the years to come amazed when you discover why right now you can't even imagine it oh you have dreams you have great hopes I certainly hope you do you have desires that have driven you and fueled your reason for coming to be a part of the school and to train under these fine women and men who teach you and to be taught by the Lord in many ways apart from the curriculum and in the books and the schedule of the school the Scottish people have a great saying many things are better felt than tilt you'll feel them and and I urge you stay stay here don't be tempted to cut it short and leave stay edit work hard at it you have no idea how it will pay off in the years to come because of the day that passes I don't give God thanks for the privilege of living in an era when there have been faculty members that built into my life Howie Hendrix was born to teach how often he must have said to himself for this I was born and we who said in his classroom we just spellbound by his ability to communicate truth and you who still have the privilege of learning the life of Christ under a man whose life is about to leave him a lot of privilege it is you'll remember the rest of your years now then with all of that as a backdrop we're going to look into a life who was not only brought on to this earth by parents who named him help we know him as Ezra but he was brought to be a part of one of the most significant events at that time and perhaps in all the ancient days of Israel Ezra he appears first in the seventh chapter of the book that bears his name I hope you brought your Bible with you and as he emerges it's it's a it's but it's rather insignificant we read there was a man named Ezra it isn't long before we read that he was a scribe that's why that's part of the reason he was born verse six tells us that this Ezra was a scribe a little later in the chapter verse 12 tells us he was the priest so scribe a man of words a man of scholarly ability in the text of Scripture having gifts and having training so that he could take God's Word the Torah the words of of the prophets and and those who wrote the Psalms and helped his people understand them what a calling that's that's part of the why of our being born we were called to do something our calling is part of what motivates us to do what we do from one year to the next every one of these teachers called to serve Christ building into your lives and mine over the years what a what a reason to exist and eternal calling Ezra's was to be a scribe and to be a priest a scribe a man of the word priest a man of worship and then when the King sends him on his way to go back to the land from which they had been separated for years all together seventy long years on the captivity the king says to Ezra that he is - he's to help manage the people and give them order in direction for their lives and so he is he's to carry out that function as well he has a three-fold purpose as Ezra comes on the scene before I go any further let me add that you are you you are the future of Christendom you will fill pulpits that are not now filled by you obviously but someday will be you will start churches you will evangelize areas you will serve in sacrificial ways in a language you don't now know which you will learn and you'll be involved in the lives of others as you in the words of the vernacular Vai day become a missionary you you don't know that right now I remember attending a panel discussion when I was a student one one evening they put several faculty members and before us one was a Naja's a number of you know of Zain many of us knew him and studied under him I thought his answer was great when the question put to everyone on the panel was oh why didn't you go to the mission field it wasn't insulting it was a question for the purpose of helping your body understand that not everybody is called their Zayn's answer was great who said I didn't go to the mission field I have a mission field of hundreds of students through my lifetime ultimately thousands these are all missionaries so in a broader sense we're all engaged in touching lives but some of you will do this in places right now you've never been places that are hard to pronounce languages that are difficult to learn and you'll perfect them my brother had no idea when God was touching his life that he would spend 32 years in Buenos Aires as a missionary to the Argentinians learn the language so well I've had Argentinians tell me we couldn't even detect an American accent and that a funny would line an American accent we have our Giunta nyan but they have they said we couldn't even tell you'd learn the language so well that's one of you or more than one of you and and before you think you know what it is let me guard you against marking it off saying isn't not going to be me I understand I often would say that when I was a student so don't do what I did do you get get past that what what a dumb thing to say yeah we're you know we are I said I'll never minister in three places I'm ever telling my wife is and she sat through that lecture several time I'm never going to be in text it's never going to be a New England and definitely never going to be in California the only three places I've ever ministered is in Texas and New England and California you have no idea you priests you scribes you leaders where you will serve some of you will do a grand work of evangelism and and you will do it on campuses perhaps or maybe you will be engaged in it among in in the sports industry lord knows they they need Jesus and you you maybe you may be one of them not athlete but you may be one of them that helps them get over it that's great you will have trained here to do your work there now let me say a special word to a group of you I really want to focus on many of you will become pastors you will become pastors shepherds of flocks pastor teachers you will have congregations that will fall in love with you not all of them but many of them will will love the what what you're doing and that you're there for them and with them and they'll tell you secrets they'll tell no one else and they'll they'll rely on you two to hold up during horrendous times when your own life is under the gun I speak to you today and I got an older daughter in the hospital you wouldn't have known that if I hadn't told you but I'm not free to cancel the chapel because I've got an older daughter in the hospital as they do all kind of exploratory stuff to see what's made her so sick we don't know but my calling requires me today to be here I was there at 6 o'clock this morning and I was there at 8 o'clock last night with my wife but today I'm away from her so part of me is there but my presence is here I say that only because that welcome to ministry you will forever be pulled in in ways that that will will be horrendous for you you'll make it part of the reason you go make it is because you see it modeled in this chapel in these uh faculty members and in fellow students I one of my teachers was Bruce walki huh that was that was fun Oh what we had walkie right after he was back from Harvard they had asked him to stay as a teacher and he said no I'm called his little school in Dallas and once he came back I thought why did he stay and touch the lives of the Harvard students they're tough I'm I was never a great hiru scholar but to this day I read from the Hebrew text no week passes when I'm in an Old Testament passage that I don't consult the original text how dare I go through these years at the school and learn how to do it and stop doing it our congregation loves the color of the original languages and and and the Greek text as well and you who are who are involved in that stay at it you are at the place where you have a chance to learn how to read the text study the text and ultimately apply the text in a meaningful way so that you become known I'm talking now to you pastors you'll become known as the expositor in the community and that's fast leaving the language of cry of Christians today be grateful for the fact that you can be an expository look at verse 10 of chapter 7 this is our our friend Ezra verse verse 9 ends the gracious hand of his God was on him why verse 10 tells us why because Ezra had determined don't go any further he had set his heart he had made a commitment you've done that I hope you've done that when you set aside your responsibilities back home and you and your partner in life if you are married are you alone if you came as a single you came because you have set your heart you have determined in this calling the reason you were born you have determined that you will pursue this study this will be your one and only chance now you can return to study I realize that but in no other time can you go through a course like this that will be more meaningful for you he determined that he would study and obey the law of the Lord and teach it look at those three objectives to study to obey to teach that's a pretty good order to follow right now you are in the study phase don't get antsy all the time I was in seminary during my four years here there guys all around me that were urging the class to get up and get out and get get beyond it get beyond what is the best time of your life to do your studies get serious about your studies you have these minds to guide you you have the library a packed with great literature to help you in your study you cultivate your own library and and you take that with you I we built our home in out in Frisco we had the pleasure of finally having all my books under one roof I'd never had that before it always had a number of meant the church and some of them I just never read what was able to unpacking and then number of them we had in our shelves at home and now we have I not only have a study I have a library I walk through a little hallway to get to the library and I just go in there and I just you know what happens to women when they walk in Nordstrom this happens to me when I walk into my library I get chills up my he's so good to be with those books wonderful my wife walks into North Shore she just says just stop let's just listen to the piano house they good that's all we're gonna do here I'll be really a happy guy and they'd never stop there okay your books okay your world is opening up to a body of literature you didn't even know existed and this is your chance part of your study don't cut it short spend some of your money on works that will outlive and outlast you and they were there before you came along invaluable you'll pick up techniques you'll never get anywhere else Ezra determined he would study and then he wanted to make certain in the study that it would impact his own life that's a very valuable principle that will hold you in great stead with your congregation they will love to know that it applies to you just as it does to them I've had people say how do you know what to preach on and my answer is often I preach on something I need to hear and I'll let you listen in because they always applies to something I need to have in my own life it was Asura's commitment he determined that he would study God's word for the purpose of doing it doing it he wasn't become simply a a distant of absent minded scholar if you will he would take the truth that he was learning and it would become a part of his system thinking life habits he would be transformed by the truth something is wrong if you leave this school without that transformation you've either not taken it seriously not applied yourself to it as you should are you miss something major along the way so I urge you to set aside the complaining it's hard for what it's worth it's supposed to be hard ministry is hard and because it's tough you've developed the habit of pressing through it we lost two babies here that's tough to go through that but you go on we had a accident in our hometown in Houston where a drunk hit us and totaled our car and we missed the seating of the seniors one of the few times that you get applause at this joint and I didn't I I don't even get get the seating of the seniors because we were taking care of our car stuff down there broke our son's jaw we didn't quit you don't quit because of that life's full of broken jaws and drunk drivers and heartbreaking moments and unexpected tragedies and accidents disappointments when you study to do the work as you are getting into the word you it begins to transform you you're not untouched by it but but you're not sidelined you don't throw a pity party every month though it's hard and ultimately to teach is there any greater joy for you who teach you who preach is there any greater joy than knowing God use your mouthpiece your throat your lips your tongue to communicate truth that people live by oh man it's a calling like no other it's better than it would ever be if you were an attorney or as important as a physician is who came in late last night to begin the diagnosis of our daughter and I gave God thanks for a gastroenterologist whom I'd never met before but he knew the right questions and he was on duty and he was willing to take time for our daughter of a great calling but he's not teaching multitudes like you will he may someday do academic medicine or she may and being teaching the students but you're going to be engaged in touching the lives of those who are spiritually ignorant starving there's a famine in the land not a famine for bread or a thirst for water but for hearing the Word of God I'll tell you everywhere I go I sense the famine and it's greater it seems now than ever people are more ignorant of scripture than I've ever known them to be and all the more reason for us to be committed to teaching the decrees and the regulations to the people that God calls us to and who knows who those who call you to minister to so we're clear on that Ezra was born and Ezra had a reason to be born this is all part of that determining to give himself to the assignment of preparation that's where you are invaluable invaluable time for you I'm thrilled for you that you're able to be here and to do this all the all the challenges notwithstanding now go to Nehemiah 8 okay now we're going to go to the place where Ezra must have looked up into the heavens and said for this I was born Oh time has passed the number of things I'll not get into but for the sake of our time together I want you to observe that they've gathered at the square chapter 8 of Nehemiah they're now in the city he's come back home and he's with a body of people who have not been around the scrolls of the scriptures they've been in captivity they picked up a lifestyle of the captivity quite likely began to live like those who had taken them captive so they're now at the city square and there is an assembly that meets at the water gate according to this a first verse and they asked Ezra look at this they asked Ezra the scribe of course why he's qualified he had by the way he had no campaign manager he wasn't out promoting his stuff you have to do that you you don't you don't have to write letters of reference for yourself have somebody else sign them you not to do that you'll be called god knows where you are in in some in some remarkable way he'll reach into the ranks and he'll say okay now you now you it's your time at the City Square so they come and they're just inside that gate from early morning until noon he read aloud to everyone who could understand according to this third verse second verse third verse I six hours now up hold on you have a heart okay I just because he read six hours doesn't mean that you put your congregation through that because hey it's a whole different setting the point is they took it seriously how do I know because when he opened the scroll they stood up look at it as for the priest verse two brought the book of the law before the assembly which included the men and women and all the children old enough to understand he faced the square just inside the water gate from early morning till noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand all the people listened closely to the book of the law and as he read it to them they have stood at their feet what that must have been light so here he is with the scroll he's a he's knowledgeable in the scroll you will know more about the Bible than most people in your congregation it's not a source of pride that's a that's a responsibility you will go prepared and you will but the grace of God have the wisdom to conduct yourself in a way that will be that will help them feel the appealing nature the magnetic draw of the Living Word of God and and and he read aloud from it all the people everyone who could understand listen closely to the book of the law now look at verse 4 first reference to anything like a pulpit probably means more like a platform he stood on a high wooden platform that had been made for the occasion he had six folks on the right side and he had seven on the left there were 13 of them you Rita here to his right stood malathion and Shimon hard name and hard name and hard name and hard name and hard name hard name and hardness 13 hard names you don't read about any of them anywhere else but here these Levites are going to work the crowd if you will they're going to move among the people who have gathered for what purpose well the end of verse of a verse for verse 5 says when they saw him open the book they all rose to their feet and they all said in a chant a man and a man they lifted their hands they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with her faces to the ground why he simply is reading from the book I mean this is like water to of a desert wanderer this is this is food for the starving and they hear it and they realize this is eternal truth I need in my life and and all the people who listen closely are responding now with their words I believe it I believe it I'm with you I'm ready to take it and so verse eight is one of the best verses in all the Old Testament on biblical exposition look at it closely look at verse 8 they read from the book of the law they would be the hardening that I did not read a moment ago 13 of them 13 of these people who are among the people they are reading in little pockets of people among the group the the book of the law of God now notice also they clearly explained the meaning of what was being read the Hebrew says they translated it it's the word that means to separate or to specify so as they're reading they are they are helping the the listener understand what that phrase means uh and and what that word means because it wouldn't be familiar to them they've long since lost touch with the Hebrew text so whatever their language that they're at that at that time of speaking these are priests that work with they were all these Levites are also aware of so they move from the Hebrew text they move into the vernacular of the everyday life and the people are like oh wow oh man oh this is terrific look at listen to this and look at that and and and we read they explained the meaning of what was being read look at the end of that verse helping the people understand each passage that's your job as a pastor as an evangelist committed to the Word of God that your job as an evangelist as a missionary it is not simply about doing work on foreign fields it is about the use of the word of God and communicating it to people who needed to live as they ought to be living it is the ever unpopular and resisted truth that more and more in our country are standing against there they were not having heard the word they now got the meaning they had it explained and they understood the passage I want to tell you something I've been through over 50 years in the pulpit and I can't number the times people have said to me as they walk by and I'm staying there visiting with them and listening to their responses and all one after another often with tears often with tears saying thank you thank you for helping me understand what this what this means thank you for applying it to where I live thank you and they're thanking me of all things but I understand I when I finish a great meal and we're at a lovely place to eat I will often say where's the chef can I have a chance to say a few words to the chef I guess not many people do that so they think I'm going to complain but no uh I guess the chance to see him I I say to him what I'm what a delicious meal yeah what a gift you have this is this is wonderful I'll wear this meal the next five six days I I i ate so much of it his wonderful food you're the chef nobody else can cook like you can cook or very few and you're called to this this is your reason for being born hello man FB Meyer wrote it this way in some unlikely quarter in a shepherd's hut or an artisans cottage God has his prepared and appointed instrument as you as yet the shaft is hidden in his quiver that's where you are right now in the quiver in the shadow of his hand but at the precise moment at which it will tell with the greatest effect it will be produced and launched on the air you're the arrow from the quiver and it will land where God calls you there you will touch lives nobody else in the community will touch and unless you prepare as you must you will do a very good job of it if you talk yourself out of the hard work of these years at the school I'm going to tell you there is a there's a consequence that follows that that you will regret the rest of your life but if you give yourself to it and if your partner in life is just as committed as you are you're you're going to discover rewards like you cannot right now imagine john piper wrote a book called brothers we are not professionals i think he's trying to get across the word not in the title here you're not professional he says in the back of wheat pastures are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry the mentality of the person professional is not the mentality of the Prophet it is not the mentality of the sleeve of Christ professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of Christian ministry the more professional we long to be the more spiritual death we will leave in our week for there is no professional childlikeness there is no professional tenderheartedness there is no professional panting after God and from one of the chapters these words emerge the moral theologian detaches himself from the basic Hebrew and Greek text of Scripture the more he detaches himself from the source of real theology and real theology is the foundation of a fruitful and blessed ministry several things happen as the original language is fall into disuse among pastors first the confidence of pastors to determine the precise meaning of biblical texts and with the confidence to interpret rigorously goes the confidence to preach powerfully it's difficult to preach weekend and week out over the whole range of God's revelation with depth and power if you are plagued with uncertainty amen to that second the uncertainty of having to depend on differing translations which always involved much interpretation we tend to discourage that will tend to discourage careful textual analysis in sermon preparation so the preacher often contends himself with the general focus or flavor of the text and his exposition lacks precision and clarity which excite a congregation with the Word of God boring generalities are a curse in many puppets sometimes it's evident in outright denunciation of exposition as pedantic and schoolish more often they're simply a benign neglect and an emphasis on sermonic features like order diction gestures illustrations and relevance crowds out the need for careful textual exposition by the way I've never had anybody critique me in my gestures I've never had anybody critique me as it relates to sermonic style when they're being fed they're loving it so quit worrying about making an impression or looking like you've got your sermon memorized I've never memorized a sermon in my life the only thing I memorized is the opening line and a pretty well exhausted memory at that point and then I go and then I go to my notes even when I'm going to speak here and I spoken here dozens of times but I need what is what it is that the Lord said in my mind when I was preparing the message or I'll drift or I'll get all involved with what are they thinking of me right now how smooth is my transition finally I'm I'm through with it when we fail to stress the use of the originals as valuable in the pastoral office we create an eldership of professional academics there sitting here on your right now the wrong with that but we limit it to them we surrender to the seminaries essential dimensions of our responsibilities as elders and pastors and overseers of the church I'm deeply grateful for seminaries and Bible believe in God centered scholars but did God really intend that the people who interpret the Bible most carefully be one step removed from the weekly Ministry of the word in the church and it's pulpit these are not men and women of the pulpit for the most part though all of them certainly can hold their own they're the ones I turn to when I'm not going to be a stone for our church but these are scholars and their work is into the text deeper than most of us will ever get but we don't we don't relinquish the calling of a serious commitment to the Word of God to this body of 40 or 50 men and women we can't it's not enough of them we need to recover our vision for the pastoral office which embraces if nothing else the passion and power to understand the revelation of God we need to pray for the day when pastors can carry their Greek texts to conferences and seminars without being greeted with one-liners the day when the esteem of God's Word and it's careful exposition is so high among pastors that those dude who do not have the skills will humbly bless and encourage those who do and will encourage younger man to get what they never got all for the day when prayer and grammar will meet with each other with great spiritual combustion that's a great sentence by the way he quotes Luther and with it I close without languages we could not have received the gospel languages are the scabbard that contains the word the sword of the Spirit they are the casket which contains the priceless jewels of antique thought they are the vessel that holds the wine and as the gospel says they are the baskets in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude Luther said if the languages had not made me positive as to the true meaning of the word of God I might have still remained a chained monk engaged in quietly preaching Romish errors in the obscurity of a cloister the Pope the Sophists and their anti-christian Empire would have remained unshaken in other words he attributes the breakthrough the rent of the Reformation to the penetrating power of the word of God that's yours handed to you from one year to the next for you to absorb obey and apply and I could tell you from experience you will never ever regret the privilege of being God's spokesperson let's bow together for prayer thank you father for giving us a book that is in our language so that we can understand what it says and what it means and how it applies first in our own sinful wayward lives and then in the lives of those to whom we minister forgive us our Father for laziness for losing the passion and our calling from turning attention to ourselves rather than to the truth of the book the Lord of I ask that you would glorify your name through these who are now studying preparing to minister your truth in our lives Lord be glorified be glorified in the name of Jesus everybody said

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 182,581

Rating: 4.7368832 out of 5

Keywords: Dallas Theological Seminary, DTS, chancellor, ezra, stonebriar, nehemiah, swindoll, capitalize, everyday, usefulness, charles swindoll

Id: SQB4lJ2qEGY

Length: 47min 21sec (2841 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 09 2013