The Baby They Overlooked
By Pastor Chuck Swindoll
He’s Ready to Come Back for Us
“Think of it, undiminished deity, true humanity, one-person, unmixed forever, forever. Right now, the only member of the Godhead in bodily form right now, ready to come for us, just when the Father says it’s time.”
Slow Down to Listen to the Lord
“By the way, I’ve learned that I never learn anything while I’m talking. I learn when someone else talks. And at this time of the year, it’s wonderful how the Lord has things to say to us that you’re not going to get from your studies, you’re not going to get from academia, you’re going to get from time with Him. So if you’ve got a family, be sure that you deliberately teach those little ones the importance of being still for just a little bit of time and remembering that He is God.”
Enjoying the Christmas Season
He’s the one we adore. I’m grateful that the Lord puts the brakes on our lives and whatever we may call the season doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, it is a reminder to me to walk a little slower, to think a little deeper, to talk a little less, to listen a little better.”
A Cross Kind of Death
“We’ll also forget the attitude He represented when He came, who though in the form of God, thought it not something to be grasped, to be seized, His remaining equal with God, but took upon Himself the form of a bondslave, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he became obedient to death, and the definite article is out of the picture, as Paul writes of it in Philippians 2, ‘even a cross kind of death.’ Even death on a cross. But it isn’t over there.”
Focus on the Most Significant
“It is about the perspective between what seems at the time insignificant is, in fact, very significant. And what seems at the time terribly significant is hardly worth a further thought. Battles come and go, and admittedly they are significant at the time. Events in history are shaped and reshaped. Presidents are elected and then re-elected, and then they move along as another one comes on. Campaigns as one after another runs for an office locally and then nationally. And if we’re not careful, the season will be about bright lights and pretty trees and malls and big gifts and who gets and gives what, and we won’t take the time to come back to the person who moved into the neighborhood.”
Additional Resources
First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.
Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.
Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your finger tips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.
Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.
About the author
Pastor Chuck Swindoll
Pastor Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. He is the founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. As a leading program in Christian broadcasting since 1979, Insight for Living airs around the world. Chuck’s leadership as president and now chancellor emeritus at Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation of men and women for ministry.
