When the Spirit Brings a Slow Recovery, Part 2

Today on Insight for living from Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll's car is the never leave their washings and there are pains that are to talk to even admit in the process of that recovery is preparing us to minister somebody go to the same it was Hippocrates who first said healing is a matter of time and according to Chuck Swindoll. That's not only a good statement.

It's also good theology today on Insight for living. Chuck addresses those mysterious seasons when God was fully capable of providing a miracle chooses instead to make his children maybe earn God's proverbial waiting room right now lost in the deafening silence, you'll appreciate the biblical wisdom and compassion.

Our study begins in acts chapter 28 Chuck titled today's message when the spirit brings a slow recovery.

I will warn you, as Paul Soros here, there will be a whole number of things that you will experience from other people.

While you were healing. First, you will experience extraordinary kindness savers to the native showed us extraordinary kindness for because of the rain that it said in and because of the cold a Kindle fire and received us all. There's kindness shown second unjust criticism. See verses three and four. Paula gathered a bundle of sticks and lay them on the fire of wiper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand, and when the barbarians saw the creature hanging from his hand. They began saying to one another. Undoubtedly, look at that word operate from superstitions and you make sweeping statements.

Undoubtedly, the man is a murderer, though he has been saved from the seed justice is not allowed to live well. Undoubtedly, it certainly would look like that anyway. Now I plead with all of us. All of us to minister to the hurting to guard against unjust criticism there hurting enough without look at the next statement. Verses five and six on the heels of her score, for they said, he is undoubtedly a murderer. Look at verse five.

However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm, but they were expecting was about to swell up suddenly fall down dead, but after they had waited a long time and see nothing unusual happened to them.

They changed their minds and began to say he is a God. The third response is inappropriate exaltation is remarkable how the opinion of the public will change.

It is so fickle the only place you will find ultimate security. Believe me, is in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is never changing, and how rare yet how important are those individuals that will let the spirit of God do his work and in Weaver's work in cooperation with now in the time the follows verses seven, eight and nine, we find the apostles focus on someone else. By the way, this whole episode on the island of Malta verse 11 took three months three months time the Lord before he took them to Rome, stop limit, Malta to give them time to recover, to heal.

It takes time and in the process of the healing. They began to minister to someone else that's part of it while you're hurting deeply. You are not involved in ministering to someone else you will, but not early on, that'll happen. You are in fact being prepared for such verse seven in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island and probably us, welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days.

It came about that the father of probably us was was lying in bed I noticed Dr. Luke diagnoses the. The illness he was afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery. Perhaps a disease in the cholera family or one of the one of the diseases of the islands. He had a fever and dysentery, and Paul went and to see him and after he had prayed he laid his hands on them and healed them it interesting that there was in this case, instant healing. He laid his hand on him and healed him. This is the only case outside the person of Jesus Christ for any other person, heels with the touch of a hand in all the New Testament from the media. Today, he would get the unit that was the common plan for all those who were laid aside that any number of people could come in with the touch of a hand bring healing by that was the exception not the rule. When there was no Bible. There was no basis to determine is that man of God or zeal. The enemy and God would verify his spokesman on occasion by allowing them to demonstrate his power directly. This is a case in point. It's a case of instant healing. By the way, just practically speaking, it's interesting that there is no envy on the part of Dr. Luke that he couldn't do anything about it. But Paul could Paul walked in there was healing look further. Is there instant healing in this relational involvement, but there is also prolonged recovery verse nine. After this it happened the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming, you better believe it. That word travels. They were coming to him and getting cured. Not only is it another English word. It's another Greek word. The first word healed him. Verse eight closes with those terms is a word that means instant healing but down in verse nine. Getting cured is the word therapy will we obviously get our word therapeutic art therapy from it suggests time to process a blending of gifts from God medicine as well as the divine power of God at work there was a process involved in the curing what I'm saying here is that more than just a few went through a prolonged period of recovery. And there's only one case of an instant healing. I said I wanted to dedicate this to the hurting and I do because I personally hurt with a number of you as to various members of our staff and we attempt to help often feeling very very helpless but we realize that it is a process of time of prolonged recovery work.

God does things in you and to cut that short is not a task of any individual. It is a process of becoming cured word sometime. It really takes a while are you right now in the process who would question who isn't. You would be shocked unless you have vast experience with the needs of people to know the herds of those people just within touching distance of you, they don't look like it but it's true. I think it is interesting that by and large are messages have to do with something that happens now. Or they are sort of a funk formula response due for things and you got it. The herds that our family has built over the past several weeks, deny formulas were doing better. It's really looking up, but it sure does take time and I confess to you, I am a I am an instant type thinker.

I I like for it to happen fast.

I like to get up fast.

I like to get on with the day fast. So when I get sick I like to get well fast I tell my doctor give me a fast pill.

It doesn't work fast if the scar is D. It may not go away for years. It may never leave God's perfect saints and standing him up like little blocks for people to look at is while that's Christianity. There are crossings and there are bruises and there are names that are to talk to even admit and in the process of that recovery.

He's preparing us to minister somebody go to the same thing amazing how he never wastes afflictions. He's got the whole thing. In view you can think just doing so great that everything's a terrific, only to have the bottom dropout in a simple and almost silly way it happened to me this week. I I'd gotten a couple of three pieces of fan mail.

So I was reading them and gluten Overman thinking how great I was terrific everything was. And I walked outside to get a cup of coffee and out in the front office and there was a lady there and she said to me all says what you look like in real life. She says I've always seen on television. Jesus is your lot grayer than I thought little older so I got my coffee and I walked back inside and looked in the mirror like Lee. That's really down something as simple as that. But yours is yours is D when you had it all set up. It was all raised in your on your way.

Finally got things together. It drops out your supposed to be somebody that keeps it going. You can't takes time and the deeper the emotional hurt time, the less able your find yourself to describing can't put it in words. The weekly multitude quick were so Rome oriented were so Jerusalem settled that we can't even abide Malta many a father here has to admit it when it comes to assignments.

Gotta find his own way and set him straight. You better get your act together. Boy does us a lot of good.

A sum of. Gotta learn is not apparent here with grown children doesn't understand what I just said while there are practical benefits. I'll tell you they are really practical benefits come I find couple of in verse 10, they honored us with many marks of respect. And when we were setting sale they supplied us with all we needed is the first one who takes time to heal should be respected, not presented, they respected.

I'm trying to find myself trying to put together, stay with me. Let me throw accept me in it.

I know the things that I'm suggesting are our little often wild and they don't square with all the things we stood for your whatever your statement in your home but don't write me off say the hurting, I want to say that in this church you will have room to heal.

You don't have to have everything altogether little piece written by prof. I really admire the five-year-old girl was playing near the curb in front of her house, a drunk driver happens by loses control of his car.

Instructor did her parents choke in the bitterness of needless evil. They look to each other. They look to heaven to cry to God they know in their hearts that there is nothing here but evil, no soothing words from decent minded friends will soften the troubled truth of the evil that caused this event yet. His father and mother grow their way through the tunnel of horror with no light at the end they rediscover each other in the darkness of their night, God seems silent friends are powerless, yet their souls throbbing pointless pain. They move awkwardly into the only truth there is in the whole world for them. We have a future together. I get this, putting a hand on the hand of the other.

Each comes to know that in spite of hell in their private world. Life is really worth trying to live as this almost unbelievable truth begins to grip their souls. They find maybe for the first time that they came to life's paramount discovery together like a stone, and inspiration and sees them for the first time they know together that life is good in spite of what is happened through the pain. The harder the loss, the grief the dad of it they have for the first time come together, they are to be respected and me. The last one. Christ will destroy is not something that we rejoice over great tendency is to deny it, deny if my child dies.

It is in. It is an enemy that took the child.

Of course, God is good. Of course God is great work together for good. That's what Scripture says, but the process that took the child from me is painful and grievous and hard to deal with. So let me cry and let others not as those who have no hope for some it doesn't take as much for others it takes a long time and they are to be respected whether they weep or smile second, the one who is healed will be better equipped to help others when they had supplied all we needed and we set sail. The one who is healed will be better equipped to help others you want to understand the loss of your baby. Another mother in this congregation in this family of God that has lost a baby. You want to know somebody that understands what it means to go through a mental hospital and come out and work your way back to dignity and respect somebody else who was in a place like that. And God has given us in the family those, people you are not surrounded by the perfect people.

You are surrounded by those who have been through are now in Hertz. That's what makes us real in the little book that we became acquainted with on Mother's Day: velveteen rabbit.

We met up little creature that found his way to the boys Christmas stocking little perky, setting ears and silk thread whiskers and absolute spotless for set there in the stocking and a little later in the nursery medic creature called skin horse skin horse had been around forever. The uncle had broken a man skin horse had a foot to hook missing tail was gone. Bulls on the right side here was little velveteen rabbit and the talked about being real real isn't how you made, said skin horse. It's the thing that happens to you when a child loves you for a long long time, not just to play with but really loves you. Then you become real. Does it hurt as rabbit sometimes said skin horse. He was always truthful when you are real you don't mind being hurt doesn't happen all at once or bit by bit doesn't happen all at once you become takes a long time doesn't happen often the people who break easily, or have sharp edges or have to be carefully Generally by the time you reel most of your hair's been loved all guys drop out you get loose in the joints and very said sum you are very real people and you are the most to the hurting, the real dropping out and joints getting loose and have loved all the ones we turn to plaster saints we had enough of all, we only varnish we need real life started bleeding scare people is once these things happen. Doesn't matter because once you real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand emerging from this ministry must come people who care or we will have lost the very purpose of fire origin.

Don't miss that. I just people with answers people to care, not smart people, wise people and people who can cry and can feel the people who understand the pain of healing. It says in Isaiah 53 by his stripes we are healed.

It occurred to me that we have made something very simple, quite complicated and on the other hand, we have taken something that is very complicated and try to make it simple. I give it to you fast salvation is very simple, not complicated if your current is sin, lack of forgiveness.

No security with God.

Never had faith in Jesus Christ. Simple by his stripes we are healed.

Believing in Jesus Christ, that the world around us says that's Mike obligated to learn the stop got to go to church to be baptized going to carry a Bible, you gotta use new words. You gotta run with Christians, and by-and-by you work really hard then somehow you get in. God says it's a gift. My son died for your sin I give you eternal life believed in. My son, but I fear on the other hand, that we have taken something that is quite complicated.

The complex mechanism of a human being hurt and pain in the harbor that sin takes on that life and we have with equal clout said. With the passing of our hand healed with straighten live right doesn't work takes time to heal and for some not, will not much time for others. A lot of time parents being gracious and careful with your child where it takes time. You don't loosen and Christian. Be careful with your friend who needs time to my amazement I need time to.

I never thought I did. I really do. And for the first time I can say that without shame thank God for help.

This spell together. It may be that today your problem is really not as complicated as you thought hey when you hear that Christ cares and he paved the way picked up the tab. I believe it to make a complicated snow mumbo-jumbo and that he makes an offer is integrity stands behind it. He says believe now in alchemy that's eternal life shears would like to talk to you following the service. We really like to help you understand that change from darkness to light and death to life will help you with. I give you my word will be careful with your feelings. But for you that need some time, extreme difficulty sometimes need extreme remedies. Thanks Lord for not punching out plaster saints, turning us into into squared squared off erect replicas of perfection. I'm grateful that you never used a can of varnish and I thank you for the blows of life that force us to see our helplessness and need help those who minister to the hurting to understand harder pain and then give wisdom, working it through with a friend with the child. I pray that you would use these emissaries of mercy as your earthly angels of encouragement and strength. We pray these things father trusting you for the outcome and for the glory in Jesus name your listening to Insight for living in the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit us online@insideworld.org will Chuck titled today's message when the spirit brings a slow recovery. It's number 11 in the 14 part study and it's also chapter 11 of the 14 chapter book that Chuck wrote about the Holy Spirit. If you're prepared to take a deeper dive into the subject of waiting on God and the many other topics we address in the series, I'd highly recommend Chuck's book called embraced by the spirit Galatians 525 Paul wrote these words, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit strong counsel from the apostle about cultivating our walk with God and Chuck's book, you'll discover the wonderful outcomes we walk right alongside God keeping in step with his spirit.

To learn more about walking in this way request your copy of embraced by the spirit.

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Roy did landscape reminds us to find refuge in God alone.

The fertile valleys invite us to follow our ship Jerusalem's position at the very center of the world announces the good news of Christ.

Every nation, and now you can see Israel with Chuck Swindoll and Insight for living ministries March 5 through the 16th 2023.

Every time I visited the holy land of returned home with the refreshed part for God and a renewed vision for the world really. I mean it every time. So I want you to have the same life changing experience to learn more, go to Insight.org/events call this number 1-888-447-0444 Insight for living ministries toward Israel is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I Bill Meyer tomorrow. Chuck Swindoll describes what it means to employ the power of God spirit right here on Insight for living in the preceding message when the spirit brings a slow recovery was copyrighted in 1979, 1984, 1993 and 2003 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2003 by Charles R. Swindoll. All rights are reserved worldwide.

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