Pressing On - Charles R. Swindoll

you're listening to dallas theological seminaries chapel podcast good morning everyone I want you to greet the group of people who are here from our church I'm Stonebriar they've chosen to come visit today why don't you stand up and take a nice long stretch and let everybody thank you for coming today if they does off it's because they've already heard everything I have to say by the way mark mentioned by speaking at commencement and I will tell you there is no pressure like that so I have been repeating the prayer of the Apostle John frequently even so come quickly Lord Jesus but if he doesn't I've got plans to be there well it's a tough time of the year for our students you've got to hang in there and so different from when we all started this first semester back in late August it was the chapel was packed everybody's on the edge of their seat thinking I'm going to be here every chapel service this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and I'm never going to miss an opportunity to be here and then April comes and it's kind of a different subject at that point isn't it so we need a little help in pressing on I think not only you who are students but all of us teachers and pastors and all Christians alike because we we began to lose a little steam at times especially when we get weary we can get disillusioned I thought about that a recently when like you I watch the evening news and I saw those folks who have lost everything in the recent tornadoes storm the torrential rain the horrendous winds of up to 150 or more miles per hour can you imagine having the entire second floor of your house blown away your roof blown off no home to go home to no food the kitchen no kitchen no car no neighborhood imagine that you think of that I hope you and I will never be there but we maybe we have no guarantee that something similar that might occur a God reigns his goodness on the just and the unjust and in the midst of the storm pressing on is essential as you get older you will find that to be true as well I just finished for the second time dennis Rainey's wonderful book stepping up I want to read a section to you from what he writes about making a difference about a dozen gray-haired men set at the table in a prestigious Country Club all former executives who had been highly successful leaders champions bright intelligent minds these were risk takers who had led big lives checkered with success and failure married between 45 and 60 years these men clearly had plenty to impart to younger generations as I prepared to speak to them I couldn't help but think that their gray heads only added to their dignity they had asked me to speak for 10 minutes about what family life was doing to strengthen marriages and families as I unpacked what we were doing I mentioned that I'd be speaking to a gathering of executives a couple of days later about three qualities of a patriarch what happened next was fascinating it was as though I had touched an open nerve for 45 minutes for 45 minutes they peppered me with questions peeling back their hearts sharing disappointments frustrations doubts and desires they talked about how their adult children were now critical of them pushing them to the fringes of their lives they were now treated as unnecessary except as babysitters and they felt their family really didn't want their influence or their involvement they said the only opportunities their churches offered were ushering serving on a stewardship committee and giving to a building program they lamented that the culture had become so youth oriented they felt emasculated treated as though they were done and had nothing to give back these men who had once been Kings and their families their businesses the communities were for the first time in their lives uncertain that their roles what their roles should be like broken antiques gathering dust in an attic they were without purpose but as they interacted I can see in their eyes that they longed to be challenged again war hardened and savage savvy these sage soldiers wanted to fill their nostrils with the smoke of the battlefield and engage in the fight once again they really didn't want to trade their swords and armor for a 5-iron and a golf shirt they realized they were made for something far nobler than watching cable news while falling asleep in a lazy boy recliner I said they're astonished at what amounted to grand theft men robbed of their glory no longer dreaming because of a complicity of forces that had cruelly swindled them out of their courage to step up these men had been left behind disoriented lost most of you our long ways from that age but you'll get there I in many ways fear for you as you get older in your generation if we think it's tough on those who are getting up in years now can you imagine 20 30 40 years from now have a friend in the entertainment business he lives out in Los Angeles about 37 38 years old so I said to him the other day on the phone hey you guys doing out there he said well it's pretty quiet I said quiet you haven't had a quiet day in your life he's at all yeah since I turned 35 the phone no longer rings and that interesting 35 and you're over the hill some of you're getting close thank goodness it need not be so and I found it isn't so in ministry but I also find that you have to work in it nobody comes along every other day and pat you on the back and says you're doing a great job stay at it press on so a lot of that becomes your talk with God and your own self talk which I've taught my kids all their lives the most important voice you hear outside the Lord's is your own what do you tell yourself and if today you are already thinking about that great day when you will retire I've got a lot of things to say to you don't go there what a stupid way to live our lives as though everything hangs on the time I can hang it up never forget particularly Minister I talk to you just as Easter was around the corner I said well you're looking at a lot of music in front of me say yeah I am I said really really excited about it what do you think when you think of Easter what you like most about it when it's over was his answer what kind of a silly answer is that when it's over your ministry is ahead of you we all know that so how do you press on when there's no chapel service when there's nobody my age or a little younger maybe a little older to say to you it's really worth it to stay in there it's really worth it to press on regardless how do we do that well not surprisingly I chose the words of Paul as he wrote for the last time in the dungeon under probably a damn torchlight down in the member time a cell you ever get to Rome go there if your guy doesn't know where to take you get another guide because you need to see that before you get out of Rome and you need to walk down that serpentine stairway that leads to that hole and if it isn't the very wand it is one very much like it where Paul spent his last hours you had to work hard to stretch out to sleep on that cold dank dark hard floor where Paul writes the words of second Timothy my opinion is very best words we're all familiar with the first eight verses because they talked about what we do as those who are committed to an exegetical expositional ministry where to preach the word we're to do it in season and out of season were to reprove and rebuke and exhort with all grace great understanding faithfulness and on and on it goes Paul even says I fought a good fight I finished the course I've kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me retirement nope doesn't say that there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me at that day not to me only but unto all them also who love his appearing that's you unless me though we never met the man with a stylus in his hand he had us in mind and then he gets very very personal in fact I think some of these verse verses are dripping with nostalgia so let me pick these verses 9 through 22 to guide us into five things to remember to keep pressing on take out a pen find a blank piece of paper and write some things down good for you thanks number 1 verse 9 make every effort to come to me soon verse 21 make every effort to come before winter well before the cold winds blow across Rome before I almost freeze to death if I'm living at the time before the leaves of fall blow across the street I'd love to be nearer to you Timothy number one invite others to come closer you will find as you get older that you will become increasingly more isolated you will if you're not careful people will become a bother to you they will become wearisome to you and you will look for ways to get away from them especially if you are serving in a large place that has a large number of involvement with other people let me urge you to go against the tide and invite others to come closer to you Paul urges Timothy not only to come but verse 21 to come before winter resist the tendency to live an isolated life select a few individuals not a lot nobody has a lot of intimate friends throughout our lifetime for maybe five if that many stay close to those people even though your lives may be geographically removed stay close thanks to the electronic world in which we live your your a few clicks away be in touch talk to them have them enter your life and you enter their life family members rather than pushing them away feeling like I've done my job they're on their own you've never done your job parenting never ends if things are kept well between you they will always want you near so invite that sustain closer friendships in order to press on you think those people that don't have a home today aren't looking for close friends where did they have supper that night where are they getting their clothes now how do they get their kids to school all of that to say if you wait till later to have the friends it's too late pull them up closer now I'd say that the faculty members if you're not careful you'll live in an ivory tower you'll live your life as an academic you'll teach a class and you'll go home and you'll have very little contact with the students don't let that happen stay in touch with us in my four years at this school I cannot tell you the times a few faculty members became more to me than life itself and in the midst of horrendous loss they were right there because they wanted me to be near them and invited me to be there so one of the things I tell students or potential students when they're thinking about Dallas is come to Dallas you'll no doubt find some faculty members who will really want to be close to you number two verse 10 Dimas having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica number to get over those who disappoint you get over those who disappoint you people are people every one of us is sinners some are disloyal others simply let us down others have a way of breaking their promises we'll go on even though they break their promises don't waste your time on those who have disappointed you he mentions Dimas and says nothing more refused to let those people steal your joy or drain your energy if some disappointed Paul believe me there will be those who will disappoint you hopefully you will come toward the end of your life and hardly be able to name one of them because you've lived on and not allowed them to become the focus of your thoughts Dimas having loved this present world as desert but would you like to know more about Dimas would you like to know what that means and what he did and did it manifest itself and a slow erosion or did it seem like a sudden overnight the next morning his bed was empty and he got word from a friend that he was in Thessalonica don't know anything else there will be those who will simply walk out of your life let him walk you've got a life to live and you've got a ministry to take care of press on press on which brings me to the third verse 11 only Luke is with me pick up mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for service number 3 lift up and encourage those who have failed lift up and encourage those who are recovering from failure it's a better way to put it who are recovering from failure jean-marc what a story according to acts 13 he was on that first missionary team Paul Barnabas and a young man named John Mart they called and they went together for the first time to regions that had never heard the good news John was young he had a wonderful home with his mother Mary back in Jerusalem he was a long ways from home and as the Sun set on the panthéon coastline and the rocky cliffs were in front of them who knows but what Paul didn't get sick there maybe with malaria who knows but what they didn't get into some bad food and all of them became ill nothing quite like being sick away from home to discourage you one of my sources said he simply got homesick and needed to go home to mama that's nothing wrong with that that happens every person here has been homesick if you haven't you don't know what you've missed or maybe something was wrong with your mama I don't know but I'll tell you I've known homesickness I've known it as an adult every evening is hard for me when I travel I still get lonely my wife isn't with me I may call her twice that same evening I'll call one or two of my kids but John Mark didn't call anybody he simply went back home I'm sure flashing through Paul's mind was the proverb faithfulness in an unfaithful man a trustworthiness in an unfaithful man a time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint one of Paul's favorite verses when he thought about John he's a guy you can't trust so Paul put it down his mind stay away from John Mark he failed so you get to chapter 15 of Acts you come toward the end they've got Barnabas who is a relative of John saying to Paul as they plan their second trip let's take John with us again Paul goes you've got to be kidding sort of a swindle paraphrase and they stand toe-to-toe and the Greek word is a paroxysm they have a toe to toe face to face nose to nose argument don't doll it up don't make it antiseptic they have a verbal fight Paul says there's no way I'm going to take that man with us he failed us once he'll fail us again if you think it was worried the first time can you imagine Barnabas what is going to be like the next time one of us said he was young you were young once in fact don't you remember I'm the one who found you and brought you to the disciple it's not fair Barnabas not talking about me talking about John no we're talking about anybody who has failed and trying to recover he needs what this trip would mean to him we're not taking John we are taking John and so Barnabas took John mmm sailed to Cyprus and Paul chose silas and went inland on the second journey years have passed I'll tell you what folks the passing of years will do a whole lot to your rigid mindset your narrow convictions especially your judgmental attitude toward failures the reason it will help is because during those years you have failed even more often that mellows you and you're able to see beyond a great failure of another person way back when and so John Paul is man enough I love it to say oh when you come Timothy pick up mark it's a great line bring mark don't dearly mark there why hey he's profitable for my ministry good for you Paul and Mark well he just wrote one of the Gospels had a little something in him that was worth restoring do your best to treat people with grace when you see a nun the signs unlike Dimas when you see him in on the signs of John Mark whatever they were that said he could really work alongside you again have a hundred stories going through my mind but I won't take the time for him but I want you to know in my life I've never regretted helping a failure recover never once I've been warned by friends that I will be sorry I did that I've been told by some that it'll hurt my ministry neither happened some are engaged in God's work today with full energy because some of us cared enough to help him back on her feet lift up and encourage those recovering from a failure number four oh this gets great look at verse 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm the Lord will repay him according to his deeds be on guard against him yourself for he vigorously opposed our teaching number four let the Lord handle your critics let the Lord handle your critics there will be Alexander's in your life there are Alexander's in our lives all of us with gray hair and some of us not yet there you've already got an Alexander or two in your life they have the gift of criticism and you're the target of it and they can't wait to call other people and tell them what they think of you stop going to the internet and see what it says about you this is always a bunch of fools out there that have come to conclusions most of which are false but they've decided they're true so they think what they need to do is to spread the gospel their kind of gospel look at how Paul handled him he said he did me much harm oh the Lord will repay him according to his deeds isn't that great not a hint a bitterness not a curl lip of cynicism but he did say to Timothy watch out for Alex he's still around buddy he's still around so somewhere between the courage it takes to press on and the discernment it takes to know the danger there was a balance walk you must take and anyone who has had experience in ministry has learned to press on through the words of critics came across some great cowboy campfire counsel some of which I should not read here others I will life is simpler when you plow around the stumps as little cowboy counsel there another one when you wallow with pigs expect to get dirty another cowboy counsel before be careful what you say about folks most of them know you better than you they know most of them know you better you know them my wife's favorite is never miss an opportunity to shut up that good you're going to have critics be brought to your attention just shut up nothing your critic wants more than for you to fight back because he loves to fight and he never runs out of ammunition it seemed like he has a lot of time to do it or she does let the Lord handle your critics I was driving through South Texas the number of years ago not far from Del Rio I've been down there near Del Rio there's a radio station down there that must have an antenna mile high because it broadcasts all these screaming preachers I'm one to talk huh and they're all these guys they've all seem to have a chip on his shoulder and they've got 15 minutes on the air and they're gonna they're gonna unload their piece of their mind they can't afford to lose they are far and away hey you're really letting them have it I heard one the other day when I was on the on the road near Del Rio he said it Ralph back off whoever Ralph was I thought he'd tell me he's telling the microphone about Ralph and he says I already told the Lord on you back this morning I said Lord Sikkim okay that's how you handle your critic I guess oh no there really is no reason to broadcast it just quietly press on greatest thing you can do with a critic is ignore him just absolutely give him over to the Lord he can handle him I think sometime the Lord must say to me you bring in another one to me so I just leave him with him number 5 verse 17 I love this the Lord stood with me and strengthened me in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished hmm that all the Gentiles might hear I was delivered out of the lion's mouth the Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom to him be glory for ever and ever amen amen amen it's obvious what this fifth one is stay fully focused on the Lord Jesus Christ I've never regretted one time when I decided I would at this moment I will at this moment focus on my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the man of sorrows acquainted with grief what contagious faith there is in these last few verses what great attitudes we see here no regrets no heavy anchors dragging no if onlys only Christ the Lord stood with me the Lord will deliver me the Lord will bring me safely to his kingdom to the Lord be the glory for ever and ever amen now that is the way to live that is the way to die with some of you you and I may never cross paths again I have no idea what the Lord has in mind for you I hope it is absolutely beyond all you could even imagine or think be ready for surprises he's full of them I spending time with chaplain bill this morning trying to talk him out of the trumpet but I didn't have any success at it and we were talking about a great opportunity it's opened up to us and insight for living and he said man did you ever ever think this would ever happen to you and I you kidding I never thought I'd get out of El Campo the place of my birth what are you saying about it's a dump down in South Texas where I was raised he's full of surprises and even if we may never meet again don't ever forget these things you'll need them and there will be anybody around to tell you about him so hang on to those five things you just wrote down okay let's bow together how good you have been to us our father over the years through days when you have lavished us with goodness and days of heartbreaking losses through times of promotion and prominence and days of obscurity and brokenness how good you are to us we love you lord I love you with all my heart and I thank you for these years that you have given me for your grace giving me what I would never be able to deserve and your faithfulness when I have been unfaithful in ugly and disappointing to you thank you for these who fill this platform today people we respect but we don't idolize people we admire but we do not worship watch over them hold them close to yourself break down the barriers that might be keeping them aloof warm their hearts first to their own family and then to these students mainly to you now Lord we commit our day our end of the semester our summer our lives to you for your great glory we pray everybody said amen

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 48,088

Keywords: encouragement, hard times, encouraging, ministry, ministry principles, Dr. Charles Swindoll, Dallas Theological Seminary, persevere, perseverance, church life, spiritual life

Id: lDwQwqdWQbM

Length: 35min 53sec (2153 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 18 2012