Ordinarily, you ask the questions on open line and I do my best to answer them, but today will be a little different. Thanks for joining me at the Radio Kitchen table for our Bible study across America. This is open line with me. Doctor Michael Ray Zelnick, academic dean of Moody Bible Institute and professor of Jewish Studies and Bible. Today's program is prerecorded so I could share a special conversation with you that I had with Doctor George Sweeting.
He was the sixth president of Moody Bible Institute. Doc, as I called him, would have turned 100 on October 1st, 2024. He passed away on September 10th. And I thought a good way to honor this man, whom I respect and view as my role model was to re-air a conversation we had back in 2019 when he was 95 years old. We talked about his book, The Pursuit of Excellence, which you can learn more about on our website, openline radio.org. Our team included producer Tricia McMillan and engineers Joel Swan
and Courtney Young. I recommend you get yourself a cup of coffee and settle in with your Bible for a very special open line. My guest today is no stranger to Moody Radio. In fact, the first time I ever was on Moody Radio was a program back in 1974. I was a student, and he had me share my faith story on his radio program called Moody Presents. I am so grateful and happy to have Doctor George Sweeting join me right now. As I said, he was the sixth president of Moody as well as the Chancellor of
the school. Today he is Chancellor Emeritus. He's an author, a Bible teacher and preacher. He's my role model and to my amazement and truly my delight. He is my dear friend. Welcome, doc.
Well, thank you, Doctor Redelmeier. Wonderful to be with you.
I don't think you've ever called me that before. It's just Michael.
All right. I'll call you Michael. That's great.
I'm so glad. So, so very glad to have you with me today. Because there's. You wrote a book recently, and I think it is so special. I've really enjoyed reading it. It's a wonderful Bible study resource. It's called The Pursuit of Excellence. And even before I read it, I was struck by the title. And the reason the title struck me is that when you were president of Moody and I was a student, you would frequently remind us that there was a reason for the very high
demand that Moody education had of us. You would tell us, pressure produces. Do you remember saying?
Oh, I do. Pressure from the book of James?
Yeah. I always thought when I was a student, I thought, pressure produces a straitjacket or something. You know, there was a lot of pressure, but you were reminding us that the demand and expectation of excellence is produced through pressure. God brings pressure into our lives to develop us into what we need to be, to make us the people he wants us to be so that we can pursue excellence for him. And so, uh, pressure produces that, and I so appreciate it. As I looked at your book,
that's what it was going. So let's if it's okay, we can talk about your book.
Yes. Well, you were talking about pressure and that's James, one of the trying of your faith works. Patience. Let patience have her perfect work, her complete work. So that's really where the idea of pressure produces comes from. So yes, the book is all about excellence and how to achieve it. And the first or second.
Let me just ask you, what prompted you? I mean, doc, you've written a lot of books. Uh, and I know I spoke last. Oh, almost two years ago, when you were stepping down from being the director of seniors, uh, Chain of Lakes Community Bible Church, and. And you were the pastor of seniors there. And I said to you, you're going to retire. What are you going to do? And you said, I got some books to write. And I thought, other people just go and relax. And you
went and wrote a book. And what made you think that this is a book you needed to write?
Well, I love to serve. I love to work. Uh, work is to me a wonderful privilege. God made us to work, and so I can't ever think of retirement. In fact, I don't believe in retirement. I'm 95 years old now. 95 years young now. And very grateful that I can still find something to do to serve and honor the Lord. So.
And why was this topic so, uh, important to you?
Well, it was one of my themes, really, while I was president of Moody Bible Institute. I remember I had a little sketch made of D.L. Moody, and across it I had him put in the word excellence. And I said, I would like that in every area of the work here. We strive to excel for the glory of God. So it was a theme that was in my mind and heart, and I felt necessary in doing the work of the Lord, that we do it the best way humanly possible to bring credit and honor to him.
So now the book has nine marks of excellence, and I found it. Let me just say to anyone listening, this is a great book to get the pursuit of excellence. It's a book to study. It's a book to put some quality time in reading and to apply it. Uh, they just it's it's today we're only going to touch on a bit of the wisdom of this book, but I just am so grateful that it's there for us to study. You know, I've read other books of yours that have been very meaningful to me, but this one,
I thought, this is a great Bible study guide. And so I'm really grateful for it. So let's start with the first mark of Christian excellence that you talk about. And you say that we have to begin our walk with the Lord by faith. Uh, we have to put faith in the Lord Jesus as our Redeemer. And you challenge us to faith as one of the marks of excellence. Uh, so I guess what I want to know is, why is faithful faith so essential for, uh, excellence? And why is Caleb such a great role model?
The second chapter is faith, the power to move mountains. And of course, the Bible says in Romans ten, faith comes by hearing the message. And the message is heard through the word about Christ. And so we start by faith. That's the starting point for the Christian life. It was true in my family. My father and mother immigrated from Scotland to Haledon, new Jersey in 1923. I was born in 1924. My older brother and sister were born in Scotland,
but I was born in the United States. It was a little joke in the family that I was the first one eligible in the family to be president of the United States someday, and we'd all laugh heartily. Well, you got to.
Be president of Moody, so that's.
Good. But I thank the Lord. Uh, the Lord was very gracious to me, but, uh, uh, They came from Scotland and things were going so well. They thought it was the land of milk and honey. And then in 1928 the Great Depression began. My father was a builder, an engineer, builder of bridges and large buildings, and so he immediately lost his job. All building stopped in 1928 and 29, and no major building went on for years. He couldn't find work, even. In fact, the only job
he could find was as a night watchman. So we would read about the children of Israel. We'd read about their journeys of faith. We'd read about how God led them from place to place. We read about people like Caleb, Caleb the Conqueror, Caleb and Joshua believed God. They had faith in God. the other ten of the people who went to look over the land, they said, we can't go there. It's too difficult. The people are big. We're
like grasshoppers in their sight. We can't do it. But Caleb and Joshua said, we can't do it, but God can. And so they trusted the Lord. And they said, by faith we're going to take the land. And God blessed them. And God did that. He gave them the land. So we begin by faith.
Let me ask you. The Bible teaches that faith can be a spiritual gift. I mean, we're all supposed to have faith, but some people have a special measure of faith to to see great things. I think D.L. Moody was a man of great faith. Uh, as an example of that, who saw all the great things that God could do. How do you feel? Do you think that God has given you that as a spiritual gift?
Yes, I think so. Hebrews says, without Faith. It's impossible to please God. You can build a house without faith. You can get married. Without faith, you could earn thousands of dollars. Without faith. But without faith you can't please God. Period. Yeah. And so it begins by faith, and it continues by faith, and it concludes by faith. It's faith from beginning to end.
I agree. Trusting in what God can do, not what we can accomplish. Yeah. Yes.
It's not what we can do. It's what God can do.
Exactly. Okay. Now, one of the things I think has been lacking in many people. I think that's why we have a problem with with excellence in the body of Christ today, is that sometimes we have too many people who are pursuing grandiose schemes and big ideas without character. And you say the second mark of excellence. The second essential is character. Character always follows faith. It's the fruit of our desire to please God. So let's talk about character. What's.
What is character? What's the role that it plays?
Going back to D.L. Moody and D.L. Moody had some very wonderful sayings, but he used to say, this character is what you are in the dark. In other words, he was saying characters. The real you. I had another professor at Moody and Moody Bible Institute has always excelled. Our faculty excelled. It does today. It always has. But P.B. Fitzwater, who was one of the great teachers at Moody, he said, character is the sum and total of a person's choices.
In other words, you're making choices every day and you are what you choose to be. Character is the sum and total of a person's choices. So it's not what you dream. It's not dreams, but it's choices that counts. Proverbs 423 says, above all else, guard your heart, because all you do flows from your heart. Joseph made the right choices. He chose first to be pure. Potiphar's wife had evil designs on him and she tried to seduce him to immorality. And when you face the flesh, there's
one thing to do and that is to retreat. That's to flee. And Joseph is the example. He grabbed his hat and ran. And that's how you treat the flesh. But left.
His coat.
Apparently some people think it's you do it with the head or you. You do it with your affections, the heart. But it's not the head. It's not the heart, it's your heels. And the Bible says Paul, writing to Timothy, said, flee lusts. Flee. So when it comes to the flesh, you flee. You know, if you were on a railroad track and the train's coming down at you, you don't bulge your biceps and say, I'm ready. Come on. You
get off the track. Yeah. And so the Bible simply tells us that we're to have nothing to do with the flesh. We're to put on Christ and make no provision, no plans for the lust of the flesh. That was the verse, by the way, that the Lord used to win Augustine to himself. He was immorally involved, and a friend spoke to him about Christ. And he was reading the book of Romans. And he read Romans 1314, put on Jesus, and don't make plans to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, and that was his solution.
Well, that's one part of character we're going to pick up and talk a little bit more about character in just a moment. Uh, but what we're doing now is I am having the great privilege of talking with Doctor George Sweeting. My name is Michael Reinicke. You're listening to Open Line, and there's much, much more to talk about, so stay with us. More great conversation about the pursuit
of excellence will follow. Don't go away. Open line is designed to take your questions and provide you with straightforward, honest answers from Scripture about the things that matter most. When you join our team of Kitchen Table Partners, your monthly gift will help us stay on the air to continue to share the truth of the Bible with those who need to hear it. Become a kitchen table partner by calling us at (888) 644-7122, or sign up online at
Open Line radio.org. When autumn rolls around, people are always interested in the Jewish Fall Holy days, that's why. Chosen People Ministries is offering a free booklet titled Celebrate Israel's High Holidays. This booklet explores the fall Jewish High holidays of Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets in the Bible called the New Year today, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement,
and Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. Don't miss out, just go to the Openline website, Openline radio, or scroll down and click on the link that says A Free gift from Chosen People Ministries that will take you to a page where you can sign up for your very own copy of Celebrate Israel's High Holidays. Welcome back to Open Line with me, Michael Ray Dolnick. This is a special pre-recorded program from 2019 when I talked with the sixth president of Moody Bible Institute, Doctor George Sweeting. He was
a dear friend of mine, but much more. He was my ultimate role model of a great husband, dad, godly leader and servant of the Lord. He passed away on September 10th and would have turned 100 on October 1st. You can learn more about Doctor Sweeting, his book The Pursuit of Excellence, and also link to a special radio program, Remembering Doc at our website Openline radio.org. You can also find past programs and leave your Bible question there. Openline radio.org.
Now I am having the great fun and privilege of talking with Doctor George Sweeting, the Chancellor Emeritus of Moody Bible Institute and the author of The Pursuit of Excellence. We're going through different marks of excellence that God calls us to so we can serve him better. And, doc, you were just talking about, uh, the issue of character and that Joseph exemplifies character. Now we know he was a man that was committed to purity and and God
used that. But he also had other qualities of character that came out.
Yes. Well, I'd begin with the character of purity because Joseph chose to be pure. So many people say when they're involved in some sinful situation. Well, I'm not hurting anyone. That's false. You are hurting someone. You're hurting yourself. But you're hurting God because Joseph said, how could I do such a thing and sin against God? So in all of these situations, you are hurting yourself and it's sin against God. We do hurt others and we hurt ourselves.
Joseph decided to flee and he was not only one who wanted to be pure, but he determined that he would be honest. Proverbs 11 three says, the honesty of the godly will guide them, but dishonesty will destroy them. Very simply put. Honesty builds. Dishonesty destroys. A Proverbs four again says, keep your heart carefully, for out of it spring the issues of life. Joseph found favor with his owner and with God because he could be trusted. He was an honest person and the Lord used him. He
was also a humble person. His life was one of serving. He found grace in the eyes of his owner. As a boy. He served his dad, Jacob, and then he served Potiphar. And then he served Pharaoh. But you see, most of all, he was serving God. He determined that God was the one that he wanted to please. And so Joseph was not only pure, he chose to be pure, but he also chose to be honest.
You know, one of the most interesting things, as I read the Joseph story to me is that it goes from his brother Solomon to slavery, and then he gets falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, and then he gets thrown in jail. And every time it gets worse, there's this interesting phrase that the Bible says of him, and the Lord was with him. And I am so struck by that, that so often we think that God's not with us
and when bad things are happening. But Joseph was always aware of it, and that's why I think he was such a man of character.
Because, yes, because he.
Knew God was with him and everything.
It's really amazing. But, uh, trial after trial, his brothers were half brothers. And so you can understand how jealousy comes into that Situation, but they didn't like him. They called him the dreamer. They wanted to get rid of him. They. They threw him into a pit. They sold him to the Ishmaelites. So really, uh, everything seemed to go wrong for Joseph. He was accused by his master's wife. He
was thrown into jail. And yet, as you just said a moment ago, repeatedly, it says the Lord was with him. With him all the way. Yeah. And what a remarkable thing it is to know that Joseph excelled because he was pure, because he chose to be honest, because he chose to serve. He was a humble, God filled man who wanted to please the Lord.
So one of the funnier things I once read in a book on how to interpret the Bible, it said, you know, if you read the story of Joseph and you think Joseph is a role model, you're not reading the story, right? I think First Corinthians ten says, God has given us all these stories for our education, for our instruction. These things are written for your instruction. And of course, Joseph is a role model of excellence, of excellent character. And I'm so glad you included him. But, uh,
there's another aspect of excellence. And one of the things that that one step that people take is they say, I want to develop my character. Yes. But then they don't do anything. And you say it's not enough to have excellent character to be to pursue excellence, we have to take action. I have a quote here. Scripture challenges us, challenges us to act. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. In turn, God promises that a doer of the word will be blessed in what
he does. Why do so many people who really love the Lord, uh, fail to be people of action? What do you what do you think can motivate people to action?
Sometimes it's fear. It's hard to know exactly what it is. I think of Henrietta mears. She used to say it's hard to steer a parked car, but once you get it moving, it's easy to steer it. And so she calls for action. She calls for us to do what James 122 says. Do not merely listen to God's word, but do what it says. Ecclesiastes 122 whatever your hand finds to do, do it. Do it how? Do it with all your might. Joshua 2415. Choose for yourself today,
this day, whom you will serve. You see, Joshua called for a decision. Choose today. Choose now. Action. There has to be a place Moody used to say. People are saying, I'm aiming to do this, he said. You've been aiming all your life. It's time to fire. And so there's
a time for action. And so after observing thousands of college students for many decades, I've noticed a common trait that makes those who excel, and that is this a burning desire to do something that will make a difference in their life and in the lives of others.
It's like that sometimes it's it's just time to get off your chair and go do something. That's right. Yeah.
Now is the day of salvation.
Start doing something for the Lord. Uh, I think that that activity for the Lord. I mean, we don't want to just have lots of motion, but we do want to serve God towards a goal. And action is crucial. Uh, now, here's this is this strikes me so much of you personally. You point out that single mindedness for a lifetime is a must. Single minded. I want to know. You say single mindedness is is a, uh, a characteristic of excellence? What are you single minded about, doc?
Well, very early in life, I wrote out my first goals, and I wrote first. Bring glory to God. I was on my knees in my bedroom, an unheated bedroom, and I. That night I had yielded my life to Christ. And so I wrote down, first of all, bring glory to God. Secondly, I wrote down, uh, develop the inner life. Now, I don't know what I know about the inner life, but I knew it was important. I knew it was more
important than the outer life. And so I wrote down cultivate the Inner Life, and then I wrote down thirdly, disciple as many other people as humanly possible. And I don't know where all of that came from. I'm sure it was the lessons I heard many times, consciously and subconsciously. And then I wrote down, fourthly, when as many to Christ as humanly possible. Those four goals were written when I was about 15. I'll never forget them. I still refer to them and I still go back and repeat them.
Yeah, that's your single minded in your determination to serve God. And it's it's one of the reasons why now, at 95, you remain my role model because I want to be like you when I grow up.
Well thank you. You know, Moody himself said.
We're going to take a break here and then we're going to come back. But, uh, if you're listening, I hope you are. I'll be back with Doctor Sweeting in just a moment. We're talking about the pursuit of excellence for the Lord. So stay right where you are. There's more of this important discussion coming up straight ahead. Don't go away. We're so glad that Febc partners with Open Line with Doctor Michael Radonich, bringing the Febc mailbag every week.
Learn how Far East Broadcasting Company is taking Christ to the world at febc. Org on their weekly podcast. Until all have heard with Ed Cannon, you'll hear stories of lives changed by Messiah all across the globe. Again, you can hear the podcast when you visit febc.org that's febc. Org. Welcome back to Open Line. So glad that you're listening today. It's it's one of my great joys today that I get to talk with Doctor George Sweeting about his wonderful book,
The Pursuit of Excellence. It's a great biblical study. It covers in this book nine qualities, nine Characteristics of excellence and this. Thus far we've covered faith and character and action and single mindedness. And now we're coming to one that I think doc has, uh, really epitomized your ministry more than anything else through the years. And that is love. Uh, it's one of the essential qualities that are needed for excellence. And I think you even wrote a whole book about
love once. The greatest of these. Right? Uh, and I've always I remember that was the first sermon I ever heard you preach. Uh, you you spoke about the importance of love. And so I think you're right. It is one of the essential qualities of excellence. Why? Why is that so important?
Well, early in life, I read a book by John James McConkie on the power of God's love. And as I read it, I fell in love with First Corinthians 13 one through 13, and it just, uh, spoke to me so much. And then I think of what Jude had to say. Jude says, and it's only one chapter. Verse 21, keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus to bring you to eternal life. So we're we're we have a responsibility of keeping ourselves in God's love. Uh, I write the
sixth chapter, call it Love the Mender of Souls. And the theme of this book is excellence. And Paul calls God's love the excellent way, in fact, that first Corinthians 12, verse 31, he says, and now I show unto you a more excellent way. And then he begins to define that excellent way. It's the way of God's love. And in verses one through three he points out the need for it. He said, it's greater than speaking eloquently. It's
greater than faith, it's greater than understanding mysteries. And the verses four through eight, he mentions the traits of this love. So this love is patient. This love is kind. This love is not self-seeking. This love doesn't behave itself unseemly. This love bears all things. This love believes all things. This love never fails. And then he says, and now abideth faith, hope, love. But the greatest, the greatest, the
greatest of these is love. So God's love in you and in me is a major trait that he wants us to have. It's a trait of excellence. It was true of D.L. Moody. God's love transformed D.L. Moody and changed his life completely.
I think when I meet people more than any other issue in their life, I think people would like to be assured of unconditional love. And and I think that's why it's such a key to ministry, to actually love people when you're ministering to them. It leads to an excellent ministry because people are desperate for authentic love might be confronting, love might be unconditional and unconditionally loving people,
even correcting them. But always loving I just I that strikes me as such an important part of effective ministry.
Oh yes. And D.L. Moody had that when he stood before the people in the old Moody church. It wasn't called the Moody Church then it was the LaSalle Street Church. But they said, you felt God's love. You. You just couldn't escape it. They they called it a house of love back in the early days because they they loved God, but they loved each other. And then that love moved out to a lost world that needed to know God's love.
And so this. This dominated the life of Moody. And he prayed earnestly that the Lord would make him a man who would overflow with his love. God's love became his main concern.
Well, I think that if more people knew how much God loved them, it would just revolutionize people's lives. And that's why it's such an important mark. But I have to move on because I want to hit all these nine marks of excellence. And so you've we've talked about a number of them, but one other mark of excellence is one that we don't want. None of us looks for it. It's called suffering. You say how in the world suffering is. Sometimes you write God's way of bringing
us back. How? I mean, none of us wants to suffer. How could that be a mark of excellence?
And yet it's all through Scripture, isn't it? Yes. Peter says in first Peter 510, The God who called you to his eternal glory, after you have suffered a little while, will restore you and make you strong. And make you firm and make you steadfast. And I've often thought if God exempted Christians from suffering, Christianity would be an insurance policy for a pain free ride. And that's not so.
We're going to know something about suffering. Uh, the great British preacher, Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, I owe more to the fire and to the hammer and to the file than anything else in the Lord's workshop, and so suffering was part of it. Here's second Corinthians four, where, hard pressed, Paul said on every side. He said, but we're not crushed. He said, we're perplexed, but we're not in despair. Persecuted but not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed.
Paul experienced much suffering, and yet it is through suffering. The Lord teaches us, and through suffering that we're made usable. God allows us to suffer. So.
In my experience, a person I love and esteem more than probably anyone else. There's a person and this person has had cancer three times. Yeah. Uh, and I always wondered, you know, someone once said, uh, what doesn't kill us makes you stronger, right? And then I heard someone else say, what doesn't kill us makes you bitter. That's not true. But what? What this I found is this is a person who is more determined to do the will of God and pursue him. And it's because of saying God
has given me life. I've suffered, but he's given me life. And now I want to do all I can for him. There's no other person like that. And it's the suffering, I think, that has brought that out. It's hard for us to imagine, but I think it's true.
No. It's true. Personally, in my experience, while I was a student at Moody, I was afflicted with testicular cancer and went to the Swedish Covenant Hospital, had two major surgeries and a doctor, Titus Johnson, the school doctor who, and doctor Titus Johnson was a great missionary doctor. He said, George, I don't think you'll see the year out. And then he said to me, he said, I don't think you'll ever have children. I said, well, you're a cheerful guy.
And but I remember in the hospital I said, Lord, this bed is my altar. And I want to take the flesh hooks of, of of discipline and determination and lay it into the sacrifice and adjusted to the center of the altar. I want what you have. If you want me to live, fine. If you want me to die, fine. I want what you want. And I'll never forget that time of suffering. But it was part of the Lord teaching me things that I needed to learn. It's amazing what.
God did, though. I mean, how many kids, how many grandchildren?
14.
14 grandkids. And your four kids, right?
Yeah. That's right. Four sons. I'll never forget when Hilda thought she was pregnant and I said, well, honey, it can't be, but I'll call Doctor Johnson. And I called him. I was a student at Gordon-conwell Seminary. Then I said, Doctor Johnson, my wife thinks she's pregnant. He said, well, take her to a doctor. I said, but you said she would never have children. So he said, what do I know? I'm just a doctor. I'm practicing. And and we we laughed. But the Lord has been good. God was.
So gracious. Wow.
And we're grateful.
Yeah. Okay. Uh, we're going to we're going to take a little break, uh, and we're going to come right back with more of our discussion about the pursuit of excellence. Lots of great stories in here, biblical stories and stories from Doctor Sweeting. You're listening to Open Line with Michael Radonich and my guest today, Doctor George Sweeting. Stay with us. Sometimes we want to read the Bible but don't know
how to get the most out of it. My friend, Moody Professor Doctor Jim Coakley, has written 14 Fresh Ways to Enjoy the Bible, a book that helps us understand the full riches of Scripture by giving 14 practical principles to bring them to life. Request your copy today with a gift of any amount to open line, call (888) 644-7122 or visit Open Line radio.org. Welcome back to a special pre-recorded edition of Open Line. My name is Michael Ray Dolnick.
I'm so glad you're listening. Today we're re-airing a 2019 conversation I had with Doctor George Sweeting, the sixth president of Moody Bible Institute. He was president when I was a student. He passed away on September 10th at age 99 and is someone I considered a dear friend and role model. Thank you Michael, I am so glad for this book, The Pursuit of Excellence, one of the great
Bible study books that you could ever have. We're going over nine characteristics of Excellence, and so far we've covered faith, character and action, single mindedness, love. And then the hard part suffering. And there's three more. And I don't think we're going to have time to cover each of these three in depth. So the seventh is prayer. And the eighth is wisdom. But this is the one. The final
characteristic that you mention is staying power endurance of ending. Well, and again, this makes me think of another book of yours that I found very encouraging, which is you wrote a book, How to Begin the Christian Life, and you wrote a book on how to grow.
How to continue the Christian life. Yeah.
And then the last one that I found when I turned 60, I read it.
Finish the Christian.
How to Finish the Christian Life. And that's with staying power. So here's what I'm wondering. Why is staying power so important? But more importantly, we figure it's important. I also want to know how do I get it? So how do I get staying power. So let's start with why is it so important? Yes.
Well, I take it from Scripture, of course, and of the early church it says in acts 242 they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and the breaking of bread and of prayers. And you see how the early church, step by step, faithfully followed those principles there. Again, first Corinthians four two. It is required, not suggested, not just recommended. It is required that those who have been given a trust, a position of confidence that they must
prove themselves faithful. The Apostle Paul said, I have fought a good fight. He said, I finished the race. He said, I've kept the faith. Staying power. The endurance to end Well, when Jesus had received the sour vinegar and wine on the cross, he said, it is finished. He said, the work my father gave me to do, it's done. And it says he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. Staying power. The crowd said, come down from the cross. If you're the Son of God, prove it.
But the Lord Jesus stayed on the cross. He didn't come down. It's human to come down. It's human to quit. It's divine to hang there. It's divine to be faithful, to have that staying power. He persevered, not quitting, but doing the will of his father. And that's what God calls us to do today.
What makes people quit, do you think?
Fear. Tiredness. Others. Uh, but I think if we have a vision of God and especially as expressed in the Lord Jesus, uh, he was out to finish what the Lord the Heavenly Father gave him to do. And his purpose statement in life was, I've come to seek and to save the lost. And so he knew he had to go to the cross. Peter didn't want him to go to the cross, but he knew he had to go to the cross. He was to die there for the sins of the world. And finally on the cross
he said, it's done. I've done what my father has asked me to do. The veil of the temple was rent in twain. He completed the purpose for which he came to earth.
Okay, so now, doc, you've already mentioned that you're 95 years old. You don't believe in retirement. You're still serving God. You're still. How many years? Are you married now?
72.
Only 72. So you got a lot more years there? Uh, a very patient wife, I guess. Right?
Very patient. She's. I owe everything to her. Apart from the Lord, she's been the most important person. Even greater than my mother and father. And I love them dearly.
So here's my question. What is the key? I mean, I have never seen anyone with as much staying power and serving God and loving God as you. And so what do you think prompted that? What's the key that you found for staying power in your life?
I think it comes from the scriptures, from the Word of God, because as I see it from beginning to end, whether it was the early church or whether it was the ministry of Jesus, uh, the work was to be done. And The. The Lord at that right moment said, it's finished, the work is done. And then, of course, he was buried and ascended, and then appeared to his disciples and outlined what they were to do. He said, you're here's what you're to do. You're to be witnesses unto all
of what you've seen and heard. And so that's what we're doing. Did you ever.
Want to quit?
Well, if so, it wasn't for long. Yeah. That's it. Maybe a few seconds. And then I said, Lord help me. Uh, rebuild my faith. Give me a vision of. And help me to be one that perseveres and serves you to the end.
I think that's the thing that we're all going to get discouraged sometimes. Yeah. And want to quit. But I think if we keep remembering our Redeemer, that's what kept me. There was a point where I wanted to quit serving God, and I heard a song on Moody Radio of all things, uh, early in the morning, and it was Steven Curtis Chapman singing My Redeemer is faithful and true.
Faithful and.
True. And I heard that, and I thought, he is faithful. I have to be faithful. And that was a transforming moment for me.
Oh, yeah. And Paul, you know, he says, I fought a good fight. It's a fight. Yeah. And he said, I've kept the faith. Yeah. And then he said, I finished the course that God had marked out for him. Yeah. What words? I threw me. And I said, Lord, I'd just like to have a little bit of that. I'd like to be a little like Paul was like Jesus was. I'd like to reflect him. Yeah.
You you have a chapter in the book as D.L. Moody, as an example of someone who followed excellence, pursued excellence. So could you talk a little bit about D.L. Moody? Because so often, you know, people hear Moody Bible Institute or Moody Radio and they think it means the radio station for Grumpy people or the Grumpy Bible Institute. It's not that it's named after a very famous man, D.L. Moody. Uh, and so, uh. Yeah. Yeah.
D.L. Moody used to say, give me a man who says this one thing I do, and not these 50 things I dabble in. And that was his singleness of of purpose. But listen to Emma Dryer. Emma Dryer really knew D.L. Moody better than most people knew him. And she said this organization was not pre-eminently. D.L. Moody's gift founding, evangelizing, and quick execution were emphatically his gifts. Wow. He was an Elijah. He was a divinely equipped flying artillery on
life's battlefield. I mean, that's how she describes D.L. Still moody. Wow. An RA Tory working with D.L. Moody said millions of dollars passed into Mr. Moody's hands, but they passed through. They did not stick to his fingers. You see, Moody was a person who was giving his all to serve others and to serve Jesus Christ. Uh, Dale Moody's life's verse was the world and its desires pass away. But whoever does the will of God lives forever. Now, he
only lived to be 62 years of age. But here, these years afterward, and thousands of students are being trained through the Moody Bible Institute and the radio program that goes out. Moody would have loved radio goes out day after day, all over the nation, all over the world. And that message still goes forward. And the.
Colportage society, which became Moody Publishers, Moody.
Publishers.
All the books that.
I think, I think Moody Publishers, in many ways, uh, shows Moody's passion maybe more than any other way. Yeah. Uh, thousands will study at a school. Millions will read his books. And so the work goes on.
Well, that's the fastest hour I have ever passed. Thank you, Doctor Sweeting, for joining me today. And thanks for listening, everyone. You know, if you want to get a copy of The Pursuit of Excellence, probably the best way is to go to the Open Line Radio org website. There's a link there that you can click on for the Pursuit of Excellence. It's a featured resource. You can click on that. It will take you to the web page where you
can order your very own copy. Open line with Doctor Michael Ray Zelnick is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.