Listener Favorites, Volume 4

This collection features some of Pastor Chuck Swindoll’s most requested and impactful messages. From practical advice on breaking the habit of worry to profound theological explorations of suffering and mortality, these sermons provide a spiritual “salve” for deep hurts and a firm anchor for life’s fiercest storms. This volume addresses the difficult “what if” questions of life, offering biblical clarity and hope for believers facing relentless challenges.

Message 1: Stop Worrying and Start Trusting

Sermon Overview Worry is described as a self-made prison and the number one addiction among believers today. When Jesus announced His ministry, He declared He had come to set captives free—including those held captive by anxiety and oppression. Looking at Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6 and Paul’s commands in Philippians 4, Swindoll provides a divine antidote for panic. Worry confuses our value system, makes us self-centered, blurs our distinctives, and empties today of its strength. To break this addiction, believers must train themselves to rejoice daily, release their burdens through specific prayer, relax in God’s guarding peace, and intentionally respond by focusing their minds on things that are true, honorable, and pure.

Key Facts

• The Captivity of Worry: Anxiety acts as an addiction that divides the mind, blurs the distinctives between believers and unbelievers, and turns tomorrow’s fears into today’s dread.
• Worry About Nothing, Pray About Everything: The biblical remedy for anxiety is to turn every worry into a specific prayer list, accompanied by thanksgiving for God’s past faithfulness.
• The Hammock of Peace: When believers release their burdens to God, He promises to surround their hearts and minds with an unexplainable, military-like guard of peace.
• The Secret of Contentment: Ultimate freedom from worry is found by teaching oneself to be contented with whatever one has, and training oneself to rely entirely on Christ’s strength.

Scripture References

• Philippians 4:4–9
• Luke 4:14–20
• Matthew 6:24–34
• Isaiah 26:3–4
• Proverbs 17:22

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 Message 2: Stop Shaming and Start Honoring

Sermon Overview Many believers live under a dark, thick cloud of shame, believing they are fundamentally flawed and unworthy of love. Swindoll uses the familiar parable of the Prodigal Son to contrast the toxic habit of shaming with the life-giving habit of honoring. While guilt appropriately admits a wrong action, shame destructively declares, “I am bad”. When the younger son returned home broken and starving, his father refused to listen to his shame-filled speech; instead, he honored him with repeated kisses, a fine robe, a family ring, and a celebratory feast. Conversely, the older brother models the judgmental, compassionless attitude that plagues many modern relationships. This message challenges believers to stop giving shame any respect, share their hurts with understanding friends, and cultivate genuine empathy.

Key Facts

• Guilt vs. Shame: Guilt says “I did something bad,” which leads to healthy repentance, while shame says “I am bad,” which leads to destructive behaviors and hiding.
• The Father’s Compassion: The father did not demand a probation period or use the opportunity to lecture his son; he met him as an equal and immediately restored his dignity.
• The Older Brother’s Trap: The older brother represents those who operate on legalism and judgment, refusing to celebrate the restoration of a fallen believer.
• Empathy Defeats Shame: Empathy acts as the “ladder out of the shame hole,” requiring believers to refuse to be another’s judge and instead share in their pain.

Scripture References

• Luke 15:11–32

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Message 3: When Troubles Won’t Go Away

Sermon Overview The Apostle James wrote to remind struggling Christians that trials come to strengthen faith, foster character, and quicken attentiveness to the Lord’s voice. Life’s troubles are both inevitable and purposeful, much like taxes or death. Using James 1, Charles R. Swindoll explains that testing acts like a servant to stretch our faith, producing endurance and ultimately maturity. Instead of asking “Why me?”, believers should adopt a mindset of joy, comprehending God’s sovereign plan, and cooperating with His squeezing, pinching hand rather than fighting it. The message also explores the concept of being “double-minded”—wanting our own will while simultaneously asking for God’s will—and promises real happiness and a crown of life to those who persevere.

Key Facts

• Troubles are Inevitable and Purposeful: Trials are not accidental; they are deliberately designed by God to test faith, produce endurance, and build deep character.
• Consider, Comprehend, Cooperate: The biblical response to trials is to consider them with joy, comprehend that they are for our good, and cooperate by humbly yielding to God’s mighty hand.
• The Trap of Double-Mindedness: A double-minded person is like a monkey holding onto rice in a gourd, unwilling to let go of their own will to receive God’s deliverance and freedom.

Scripture References

• James 1:1–12
• 1 Peter 5:6–7
• James 5:13–14

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Message 4: Suffering, Sickness, Sin, and Healing

Sermon Overview Grappling with chronic illness and physical suffering raises complex questions for believers, such as the roles of faith healers, modern medicine, and unconfessed sin. Swindoll clarifies that while divine healing is real, professional “faith healers” are not. Drawing from James 5, the message unpacks the biblical protocol for the sick: individuals must take the initiative to summon the church elders, who then apply consecrated medicine (represented by the first-century practice of anointing with oil) and pray in the name of the Lord. The message also establishes that while sickness entered the world through original sin, personal sickness is not always the direct result of personal sin, nor is it God’s will for every person to be healed in this lifetime.

Key Facts

• Healing vs. Healers: God sovereignly heals people today, but He does so without the need for charismatic “faith healers”.
• Medicine and Prayer Together: In the first century, “anointing with oil” referred to the best medical practices of the day, meaning believers should use consecrated medicine alongside earnest prayer.
• Not Always God’s Will: It is not God’s will that every person be physically healed, as seen in the lives of Paul, Trophimus, and Epaphroditus.
• Confession Within the Body: Believers are encouraged to confess their sins within trusted, close discipleship relationships rather than in unhelpful public settings.

Scripture References

• James 5:13–16
• Romans 5:12
• 1 Corinthians 11:30
• John 9:1–4
• Acts 3:2–8

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Message 5: What If You Were to Die Tonight?

Sermon Overview In this sobering, eternity-focused message, Swindoll tackles the inescapable reality of death using Jesus’ account of the rich man and Lazarus. Death is defined as the separation of the intangible soul and spirit from the physical body. Upon death, a person’s eternal destiny is permanently sealed based on decisions made during their lifetime; there is no reincarnation, purgatory, or second chance. The unrepentant rich man went to a place of conscious, inescapable torment in Hades, retaining his sight, feeling, hearing, and painful memory. Swindoll dismantles cynical rationalizations about the afterlife and urgently pleads with listeners to trust in the written Word of God, which is more powerful to save than any miraculous sign.

Key Facts

• The Destination of the Soul: At death, the physical body goes to the grave, while the soul/spirit immediately enters either the presence of God or a place of conscious torment (Hades).
• Consciousness in Eternity: The rich man did not cease to exist; he retained his senses and—most agonizingly—his memory of the life and opportunities he squandered.
• The Great Chasm: There is a fixed, impassable chasm in eternity, meaning it is impossible to cross over or pray someone out of torment; the decision to accept Christ must be made in this life.
• The Power of Scripture: When the rich man begged for a miraculous sign to warn his brothers, Abraham replied that if they wouldn’t listen to the written Scriptures (“Moses and the prophets”), even a resurrection from the dead would not persuade them.

Scripture References

• Luke 16:19–31
• Hebrews 9:27
• Romans 5:12

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Message 6: What If a Person Is an Unrepentant Troublemaker?

Sermon Overview While the church is a place of grace, it must also be protected from wolves in sheep’s clothing—individuals who chronically stir up division and manipulate the flock. Swindoll draws on Romans 16 and Titus 3 to outline the difficult but necessary protocol for handling unrepentant troublemakers. Leaders are warned to be “wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove,” meaning they must be discerning enough to recognize deception hidden behind smooth talk and flattering words. The biblical response to a divisive person involves clear steps: observe their actions, issue a first and second private warning, and if they refuse to repent, isolate them by having nothing more to do with them.

Key Facts

• Wolves in the Flock: Since the beginning of biblical history, leaders have had to deal with stubborn, rebellious individuals who find delight in stirring up unrest and division.
• The Danger of Deception: Divisive people often use “smooth talk and glowing words” (flattery and eulogy-like praise) to deceive innocent, gullible believers.
• The Protocol for Discipline: According to Titus 3:10, if a person causes divisions, church leaders must gently but firmly confront them with a first and second warning; if they remain obstinate, the church must separate from them.
• The Maxim of a Healthy Church: A wholesome church operates on the ancient principle: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity”.

Scripture References

• Romans 16:17–18
• Titus 1:1–6
• Titus 3:8–11