Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Paul on His Knees . . . Again Msg 1126 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Paul on His Knees . . . Again Msg 1126 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It was the martyred missionary Jim Elliott who once wrote
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: in his journal, the saint who advances on his knees
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: never retreats wise words. All of us have discovered that
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: as we go through times of real discouragement, there's nothing
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  Speaker 1: like prayer to pull us out of that nosedive. Well,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to find Paul literally on his knees as
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  Speaker 1: we turn together to the third chapter of Ephesians. He
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  Speaker 1: is under house arrest, and he has a Roman soldier
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  Speaker 1: chained to him during this time. Nevertheless, he's filled with
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  Speaker 1: the joy of the Lord. But in his heart he
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  Speaker 1: is entertaining some deep concerns about his friends in Ephesus,
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  Speaker 1: those believers who were falling into discouragement over his being
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  Speaker 1: under arrest, And so Paul decided to deal with that
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  Speaker 1: on his knees. He wanted none of that kind of
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  Speaker 1: discouragement on their part, and so he prayed on their
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  Speaker 1: behalf that they would be filled with the love of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: they would be strengthened by His spirit rather than succumbing
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  Speaker 1: to discouragement. Well, we're going to read about that when
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  Speaker 1: we turn together to this third chapter of Ephesians. I
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  Speaker 1: want to begin our reading at verse thirteen. As you
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  Speaker 1: follow along, Therefore, I ask you not to lose heart
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  Speaker 1: at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
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  Speaker 1: from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: its name, that He would grant you, according to the
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: His spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may
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  Speaker 1: dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: with all the saints what is the breadth and length,
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  Speaker 1: and height and depth, And to know the love of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to
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  Speaker 1: all the fullness of God. Now to him who is
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  Speaker 1: able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we
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  Speaker 1: ask or think, according to the power that works within us.
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  Speaker 1: To Him be the glory in the Church and in
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray.
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  Speaker 1: We love you, Lord, and we're learning to live with
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  Speaker 1: you each day just a little better. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: meeting us where we are, and for understanding us in
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  Speaker 1: all our ways, depths and heights, mainly depths, wins and losses,
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  Speaker 1: and often losses, encouraging and discouraging times and frequently discouraging.
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  Speaker 1: And for not writing us out of the book or
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  Speaker 1: for erasing us from your plan, but for stepping up
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  Speaker 1: again and again and catching us as we're running away.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you Father for bringing us back again and again.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for the grace of our Lord Jesus, who,
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  Speaker 1: though infinitely rich for our sakes, became poor that we,
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  Speaker 1: through his poverty, might become infinitely rich like he. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for the excitement of where we're going, and you've
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  Speaker 1: made that happen. Thank you for pulling us together from
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  Speaker 1: all different walks of life and all over the globe
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  Speaker 1: and putting us here on this Sunday morning. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for what's carried us through from start to finish, your
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  Speaker 1: amazing grace. Because of that we give and we pray
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  Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen, Well, what do
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  Speaker 1: you do when you lose heart? That's the biblical words.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Those are the biblical words for being discouraged losing heart.
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  Speaker 1: You've all been there, haven't we. The wind goes out
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  Speaker 1: of our sails. We have our morale dropped to a low,
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  Speaker 1: even though we were once really high and encouraged. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: somebody I said something that was unfair or just downright ugly,
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  Speaker 1: and you had been doing so well, and then wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: you know it, just a matter of a brief period
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  Speaker 1: of time and you begin to tunnel, just want to
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  Speaker 1: give up. Discouragement does that to us. I found a
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  Speaker 1: great sense of humor helps when you're discouraged, and I
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: find it often among parents of young children. I mean,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: let's face it, parenting is a tough assignment. And all
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  Speaker 1: the parents said, all right, now, since it's so tough,
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  Speaker 1: some of you take it far too seriously, and maybe
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  Speaker 1: this will help. I'm sure these things were written by
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  Speaker 1: a mother who had a very difficult set of situations
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  Speaker 1: in her home, but she didn't let it discourage her.
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  Speaker 1: She calls it things I've learned from my children. A
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  Speaker 1: king sized waterbed holds enough water to fill a two
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  Speaker 1: thousand square foot home four inches deep. Here's another one.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: If you spray hairspray on dust bunnies and run over
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: them with roller blades, they can ignite that good. If
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  Speaker 1: you hook a dog dish over a ceiling fan, the
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  Speaker 1: motor is not strong enough to rotate a forty two
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  Speaker 1: pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It
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  Speaker 1: is strong enough, however, to spread paint on all four
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  Speaker 1: walls of a twenty by twenty foot room. You should
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  Speaker 1: not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: When using the ceiling fan as a bat, you have
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  Speaker 1: to throw the ball up a few times before you
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  Speaker 1: get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball
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  Speaker 1: a long way the next one. She also learned from
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  Speaker 1: her children the glass in windows, even double paine, doesn't
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  Speaker 1: stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan. When you
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: hear the toilet flush and the words uh oh, it's
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: already too late. Break Fluid mixed with chlorox makes smoke,
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  Speaker 1: and lots of it. A six year old can start
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  Speaker 1: a fire with a flint, even though a thirty six
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  Speaker 1: year old man says it can't be done except in
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  Speaker 1: the movies. A magnifying glass can start a fire even
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  Speaker 1: on an overcast day. Certain legos will pass through the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: entire digestive track. This is super glue is forever. I've
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  Speaker 1: learned this. No matter how much jello you put in
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  Speaker 1: a swimming pool, you still cannot walk on water. VCRs
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  Speaker 1: do not eject peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, even though
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  Speaker 1: the TV commercials show that they do. Garbage bags do
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  Speaker 1: not make good parachutes. Marbles in the gas tank make
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  Speaker 1: lots of noise when you're driving. I'm gonna skip that one.
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  Speaker 1: The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make
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  Speaker 1: earthworms dizzy. It will, however, make cats dizzy. Cats throw
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  Speaker 1: up twice their body weight when dizzy. Hey, let's face it,
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  Speaker 1: discouragement is not a laughing matter, even though we're having
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  Speaker 1: a little fun with it. Boy, if you ever had
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  Speaker 1: your wins taken out of your sails, you know what
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking about. You can be sore and a long
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  Speaker 1: things are great, and all of a sudden you wonder
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  Speaker 1: if you're even the same person. Remember Elijah that magnificent
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  Speaker 1: experience on Mount Carmel, and and he drove he you know,
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  Speaker 1: he drove the land free of the worshipers of bail
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  Speaker 1: in Nasharat, and within a matter of hours he's under
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  Speaker 1: a juniper tree asking that God take his life. I
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  Speaker 1: could you believe it's the same guy, only hours different.
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  Speaker 1: Between Mount Carmel and down near the southernmost region of
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  Speaker 1: the wilderness of Judea down in Bear Sheeba. He's saying, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: take my life. It isn't worth it. I can't go
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  Speaker 1: on now. You're not shocked if you're a If you
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you're a person who understands depression. John R. W. Stott said,
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  Speaker 1: the Christian's chief occupational hazards are depression and discouragement. I
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  Speaker 1: think he's right. What do you do? How do you
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  Speaker 1: handle it? Where do you go? Did you know that
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  Speaker 1: the words lose heart, from the Greek word for losing
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  Speaker 1: heart is only found six times, and five of them
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  Speaker 1: in Paul's letters. One here in Ephesians three thirteen, one
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  Speaker 1: over in Galatians six, one in Second Thessalonians three, two
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  Speaker 1: in Second Corinthians four, and then Jesus one time uses
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  Speaker 1: or Luke uses it, quoting Jesus, you ought to pray
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  Speaker 1: and not lose heart. So pray is the anecdote. You know,
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  Speaker 1: what's really tough is when your discouragement is brought on
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  Speaker 1: by something you caused in somebody else's life. You track
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  Speaker 1: that when you do something that causes another person to
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  Speaker 1: suffer for it. That's the situation here we find second
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  Speaker 1: in Ephesians III. These people in Ephesus were gentiles. Paul
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  Speaker 1: was under arrest because he had stood in defense of
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  Speaker 1: the gentiles, saying, if they come to Christ, they are
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  Speaker 1: on the same level as the Jew who's converted to Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And on that same level, they're in the same family. Boom.
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  Speaker 1: He winds up in the under arrest, waiting for trial
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  Speaker 1: before the Roman Emperor. Of all things, Jews were behind that.
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  Speaker 1: Read it for yourself, Acts twenty one, twenty two, twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight. He's there because they wanted him killed. Now,
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  Speaker 1: how would you feel if you were a gentile living
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  Speaker 1: in Ephesus and you found out that Paul was under
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  Speaker 1: arrest because he has stood in your defense, you feel badly.
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  Speaker 1: I mean verse thirteen, he asks them not to lose
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  Speaker 1: heart at his tribulation on their behalf, and so for
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  Speaker 1: this reason verse fourteen, I bow my knee. For this reason,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's because they're discouraged. So he prays, follows
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  Speaker 1: the Lord's direction. I would you'd pray and not lose heart.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, he says, I bow my knee. Do you
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  Speaker 1: know that's unusual for the Jew to bow the knee?
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  Speaker 1: If you ever visit Israel and you go to the
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  Speaker 1: whaling wall, you will not see Jews on their knees.
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  Speaker 1: You'll see them standing, most of them with their hands outstretched.
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  Speaker 1: That's the way they prayed for centuries. Some time they
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  Speaker 1: will sit to pray. They often in first century times,
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  Speaker 1: the rabbi would sit to teach. He taught the Sermon
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  Speaker 1: the Mount sitting Matthew five to one. He taught the
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  Speaker 1: Parable of the Sore and the Seed sitting in a
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  Speaker 1: boat Mark four to one. He reclined at the table
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  Speaker 1: for the entire discourse called the Upper Room Discourse John
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  Speaker 1: thirteen to sixteen. He sat only in intense situations did
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  Speaker 1: the bow or fall prostrate before God. Jesus fell on
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  Speaker 1: his face in the garden to pray. It gets simony.
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  Speaker 1: Paul kneels before the Lord in Acts twenty as he
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  Speaker 1: says goodbye to the Ephesian elders Verse thirty six. Daniel
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  Speaker 1: bow bows kneels. I should say he kneels before the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Daniel six' ten three times a day in the
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  Speaker 1: intensity of his situation with the. Ruler so in intense
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  Speaker 1: situations he's. Bowing So PAUL i think literally got on his,
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  Speaker 1: knees you, know just a little comment here before we
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  Speaker 1: go any. Further your posture in prayer is not nearly
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  Speaker 1: as important as the act. ITSELF i often pray While i'm.
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  Speaker 1: DRIVING i frequently pray just before a difficult encounter with an.
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  Speaker 1: Individual usually my prayers are shorter and to the. Point
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  Speaker 1: SOMETIME i push my chair back from my desk AND i.
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  Speaker 1: KNEEL i don't know what recalls for, that EXCEPT i
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  Speaker 1: feel this intense. NEED i guess the best word to
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  Speaker 1: bring before The lord some SITUATION i can't, handle and
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  Speaker 1: this is his. POSTURE i bow my knees before The.
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  Speaker 1: Father remember this little. Equation you pray To god Through
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  Speaker 1: christ in the. Spirit this is a day of ultra
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  Speaker 1: familiarity with The. Trinity AND i caution us against. That
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  Speaker 1: you don't pray To. Jesus you pray To god The.
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  Speaker 1: Father you pray Through christ and in his, name and
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  Speaker 1: you pray in the. Spirit when The lord taught them to, pray,
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  Speaker 1: say Our, father who art In, heaven pray to The
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: father through The Lord jesus in the. Spirit so he's
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  Speaker 1: praying to The, father and in it a wonderful title
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  Speaker 1: from WHOM i think a better rendering rather than every
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  Speaker 1: family is the whole, family meaning the family of gentile
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  Speaker 1: and jew that's been the whole point up until. Now
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  Speaker 1: in the, letter, REMEMBER i pray to The, father before
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  Speaker 1: whom or from whom the whole family in heaven And
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  Speaker 1: earth derives its, name that he, would and the prayer
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  Speaker 1: begins the. PETITION i want to analyze discouragement and show
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  Speaker 1: you how Remarkably paul answers all four of. Them when
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  Speaker 1: we are, discouraged four things. Happen i've analyzed this in
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  Speaker 1: my own, life AND i THINK i speak for. You
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  Speaker 1: something happens, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, physically and in
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  Speaker 1: each case we lose. Something we lose. Energy, physically usually
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  Speaker 1: you're not very productive when you are. Discouraged you lose inner. Motivation, physically,
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  Speaker 1: emotionally we lose. Reality we lose touch with. Reality we
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: don't feel like we're, loved cared, for even known By,
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  Speaker 1: god if our discouragement is great. Enough, mentally we lose our.
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  Speaker 1: Memory we lose our. Memory things we once knew so
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  Speaker 1: well we don't call to, Mind we. Forget we lose our. Memory,
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  Speaker 1: spiritually we lose intimacy, physically, emotionally, mentally physically And therefore
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  Speaker 1: we lose, heart which is The bible's favorite word for
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  Speaker 1: the inner, person the core of our inner. Being it's
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  Speaker 1: who we, are that's what we'll live on even when we.
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  Speaker 1: Die it's some call it the. PERSONALITY i simply call
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: it the inner. Being interesting In paul's, prayer all four
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  Speaker 1: are addressed in this. Order we lose our physical strength and,
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  Speaker 1: so not, surprisingly the very first thing he prays for
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  Speaker 1: for his friends in ephesis is that he would Grant
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: he is The, father would grant you to be strengthened
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: with power through his, spirit knowing that physically they were
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: lacking unimous dynamic. Power it's translated here he prays that
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  Speaker 1: they will be granted according to the riches Of god's,
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  Speaker 1: glory to be. Strengthened the word means, fortified, braced. INVIGORATED
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  Speaker 1: i pray that your spirit will be lifted, up your
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: inner spirit will be, reinvigorated that it will be braced
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  Speaker 1: by the eunomus Of. God by the, way it's a
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: great prayer to pray for yourself when you're, discouraged or
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  Speaker 1: for your, friend or one of your, kids or one
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  Speaker 1: of your parents when they ARE i pray That god
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  Speaker 1: would grant you to be strengthened with power Through his
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  Speaker 1: spirit in the inner, man That christ may dwell in your.
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  Speaker 1: HEARTS i Thought christ lived in my heart If i'm A,
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  Speaker 1: christian he, does but it may not necessarily be completely
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: at home. There this word cuta from two words that
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: mean to dwell, down to be. Embedded rory renders us
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  Speaker 1: to be completely at home. There you can Have, christ
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: but he is kept out of some rooms of your.
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  Speaker 1: Life if you, will When he really is at home
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  Speaker 1: deeply in your, life kata down, deep deep within your,
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  Speaker 1: being you are. STRENGTHENED i love the words Of Anne
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  Speaker 1: Morrol lindbergh in Her gift from The Sea. BOOK i,
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  Speaker 1: want first of, all to be at peace with. MYSELF
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  Speaker 1: i want a singleness of, eye a purity of, intention
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  Speaker 1: a central core to my. Life she's describing the inner.
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  Speaker 1: MAN i want a central core to my life that
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: as well AS i. CAN i, want in, fact to
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: borrow from the language of the, saints to live in
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: grace as much of the time as. Possible by GRACE
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: i mean inner, harmony essentially, spiritual which is translated into outward.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Harmony i'm, seeking perhaps What socrates ask for in the
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: prayer from The fadrus when he, said may the outward
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: and inward be as. One that's What paul prays for.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: THEM i pray that the peace that's available to you
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: from The, father by the power of The, spirit through
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the Indwelling, christ may become an outworking experience in your.
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  Speaker 1: Life i'll tell you when that, starts your discouragement begins to.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Fade if you ever wonder when to pray for your,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: pastor pray for your pastor On monday more than you
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: pray for him On. Sunday mondays are a lot harder Than.
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  Speaker 1: Sunday sundays are invigorating and delightful and things we look forward.
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  Speaker 1: To but When mondays come sort of down the, tube
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: it just feel after a big, day you easily get.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Discouraged your mind plays tricks on, you your your adversary
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  Speaker 1: works against. You you can lose. Heart he says That
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  Speaker 1: christ may dwell in your hearts through. Faith through, faith
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: physically we can lose, energy so we need. Strength we
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: pray for. That, emotionally we can lose touch with. Reality
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  Speaker 1: haven't you had that? Happen nobody. Cares this is the.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: End someone, Said if this is the first day of
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the rest of my, Life i'm in for a dismal.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Future those little sayings don't work because you don't feel,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: loved and you don't feel, lovely you don't feel, wanted
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: you don't feel. Needed can happen after you've reared your
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: family and you now back to the empty nest and
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: they're going. On they don't need you like they used.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: To now look at his prayer that you being rooted
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: and grounded in. LOVE i love that rooted is a botanical.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Term grounded is an architectural, term just as you would
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: find in a tree the deep roots that give it,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: stability and in great structures a fine solid foundation that
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: give it. Stability so love does that for all of.
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  Speaker 1: Us so his prayer is that you would be rooted
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  Speaker 1: and grounded in the soil of love and in the
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: foundation of. Love that's so valuable when you don't feel,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Loved that's why it's an emotional. Thing you can't go
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: by your. Feelings some days you don't feel. Loved take a.
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  Speaker 1: Marriage some DAYS i don't feel. Married NOW i, AM
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  Speaker 1: i don't feel LIKE i want to cooperate with this plan.
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  Speaker 1: Worse Sometimes cynthia feels that. Way and it doesn't mean
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: we're not, married doesn't mean we don't go with. It
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  Speaker 1: it means we don't feel like. It sometimes you don't
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: feel like being a great. Parent you don't feel like
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: you mean that much To. God when you're. Discouraged you
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: especially are like. That as so AS i pray that
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: there will be, grounded, rooted and may be able to
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: comprehend with all the. SAINTS i love this. Verse what
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: is the breadth and the link and the depth and the?
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: HEIGHT i think of a cross WHEN i read those.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Words the breadth and the, width the depth and the
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: height broad enough to cover, whomever long enough to go,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: beyond and any, barrier deep enough to touch any, need any,
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  Speaker 1: sin any, hurt high enough to take us all the
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  Speaker 1: way to. Glory it's all, there and it's all surrounding
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  Speaker 1: us in his. Love and so mentally he praised that
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  Speaker 1: we'll be reminded of, that we'll comprehend with all the,
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  Speaker 1: saints and we'll know verse. NINETEEN a love that surpasses.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Knowledge isn't that an interesting way to put. It it's beyond.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Knowledge it's not just something you're reading a book and, say,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: OH i memorize, that and it's now a. Reality now
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: it's not like. That you have to get. It Louis
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: armstrong was once asked if he would please explain, jazz
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: and he wiped his mouth with that familiar handkerchief and
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: puffed his cheeks and, said, man IF i got to explain,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: it you ain't got. It you can't get. It we
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: refer to some people that they just don't get. It,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: remember it's not that they don't have a, knowledge it's
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: just they don't. Comprehend they're not they don't have a.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Clue our kids tell us they don't have a, clue he.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: SAYS i pray that they will understand your love that surpasses.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Knowledge remember the great, Hymn, oh the, deep deep love Of.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Jesus listen to these. Words, vast, unmeasured, boundless free rolling
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: is a mighty ocean in its fullness over, me underneath,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: me all around me is the current Of thy love leading,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: onward leading homeward to my glorious wrist. ABOVE i pray
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: that they'll grasp that kind of, deep deep love Of.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: JESUS i pray that for. YOU i pray that for.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: You YOU i want that for you who feel the
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: most distance From. GOD i want you to understand that
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the one who knows you the best actually love you the,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: most and you can't do anything to make him love you.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Less if you never produced another thing of value in your,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: life it would not affect his love for. You one
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: i ote not a great. Thought you can relax in
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: a setting like. That it's the most comfortable place in
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the world to be. Interesting we don't all become slobs
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: as a result of thinking like. That we become incredibly
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: productive because in a setting where we are surrounded by
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: this boundless and unmeasured and vast and free love Of,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: god we step up he praise that might become a,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: reality and spiritually we lose. Intimacy it's one of my
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: favorite words WHEN i think of true. Worship you've gone
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: through the, motions haven't you where it's been more, perfunctory
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: or you've sung the, songs or you've said the, words
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: or you've taught the, class or you've gone through the
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: course or, whatever and it's, like yon time is? It
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: when's this? Over and at other times you have drunk
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: at the. Fountain whom have We? Lord but these soul
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: thirst to, satisfy exhaustless, spring the waters, free all other
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: streams are. Dry John, owen the great, commentators, says we
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: are never Nearer christ than when we find ourselves lost
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: in holy amazement At his unspeakable. Love that's WHY i
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: think some of the best moments are.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: In.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Solitude look at how he puts it that you may
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: be filled up to all the fullness Of. God play
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: roma to the whole essence Of. God as all of you.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Know my family AND i lived for over twenty years
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: of forty five minute drive from the beautiful Blue Pacific
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: ocean as we were rearing our. Family while the children were.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Small we had a friend who provided us for a
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: number of years with an apartment to stay in down
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: At Laguna, beach one of my favorite little spots in Southern.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: California weren't many people, there so it was a great
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: time to kick back as parents and to watch the
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: kids play in the surf and make sand castles and hang.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Out we'd get a, sandwich we'd go. To kids loved
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: it because in this little apartment you'd push b which
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: didn't mean, basement it meant. Beach, oh so they'd, say
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: let's go to the. Beach so we'd go down and
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: little kids in the little swimsuits and sand all over.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Them AND i remember on one, occasion our Little, colleen
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: she was about six or. Seven she was playing at
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: the beach with her brothers and her sister in. Heaven
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: such a great, time and we started on our way.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: Home we had finished the day and had a station
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: wagon full of sand in the back, seat and the
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: kids were, asleep and finally got home AND i didn't know,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: it but she had taken a court jar of, seawater you,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: know put the lid on, it and was carrying it
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: home with. Her and so WHEN i tucked her in that,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: NIGHT i noticed it was sitting there on our dresser
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: AND i, said, sweetheart what's? This she, said, WELL i
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: just wanted to bring the ocean home with. Me, daddy we.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Smile but that little jar was filled with the fullness
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: of The. Pacific of, course not all The, pacific you
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: can't contain, it but the essence of The pacific was
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: in that court. Jar AND i pray that you will
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: have the essence Of god washing over. You and when you,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: do there is an intimacy not even known in the
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: husband wife relationship it's, deep, unmeasured. Bountless, well a great
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: like this deserves a grand, vinediction and this one has.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: One this is one of my favorite verses in all The.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Bible not my. FAVORITE i don't have a. Favorite people
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: always want me to sign this and put my favorite verse,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: down SO i sign it and PUT i don't have.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: ONE i mean it's, like which is your favorite? Child,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: well some DAYS i want to cut the lips off
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: of one of, them and the other Day i'm just
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: absolutely mad about. Them SO i don't have a favorite.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: CHILD i love them. All they're. Different and this is
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: one of those great. Verses in, fact he began by
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: bowing his knee to the, father and he comes back
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: to the, father now to. Him notice the object of
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: the whole thing is The. Father the needs all begin to.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Dissipate the significance of the of the agenda horizontally begins
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: to fade when the father is an emphasis to, him to,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: him you've almost got to read this. PRAYER i mean
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: this benediction backwards to appreciate the way he writes. It
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: let's do that to him who is able to do
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: more than we. Think that's a lot right. There let's
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: add another to him who is able to do far
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: more than we can. Think and if that's not, enough
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: to him who is able to do far more than
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: we could ask our. Think now we're involved in this
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: him who is able to do the, maximum because he
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: is the Infinite, god now stands ready to hear what
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: we have to, say able to do far more than
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: we could ask our, think and now able to do
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: far more beyond all that we could ask our. Think
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: and if that isn't, enough far more abundantly beyond all
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: we could ask or. Think you that good, Night, Chuck
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: you are super irrigating that. Verse, no it's just full
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: of every possible preposition and adverb he can think. Of
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: these superlatives are running off the page because it is
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: impossible to contain an Infinite. God so you live with
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: the quart jar, size and you wish for the fullness
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Of him in essence as you bring to him these.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Needs and we please. Observe the benediction, includes according to
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: the power that works within? Us what power is that
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: verse sixteen power through his spirit in the inner. Man
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: it is the dynamic that is at work within, us
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and in the process of going through these, things that
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: dynamic kicks in and takes us beyond whatever may be
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: the hang, up or the hardship or the current. NEED
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: i don't care what you would. Name it isn't beyond
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: all you could ask or. Think are far more abundantly
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: beyond all he could. Handle if that isn't, enough he
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: comes to his favorite word in the first three, chapters
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: and that's. Glory remember we saw it in chapter, one
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: do you? Remember we gotta go look at it again three.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Times chapter, one verse, six he speaks of our being set, apart,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: predestined adopted as sons verse, six to the praise of
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: the glory Of his. Grace verse, twelve to the end that,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: we who were the first to hope In, christ would
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: be to the praise Of his Glory verse. Fourteen who
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: was given us a pledge of our. Inheritance that's the
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: spirit with a view to the redemption Of god's own,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: possessions to the praise Of his Glory verse twenty. One chapter,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: three to him be the glory in the. Church of,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: course in the. Church why not the? Church why the?
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Church it is the only place where two warring parties
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: that cannot get along anywhere else can handle. It jew and.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Gentile all the peace treaties they can, sign all the
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: hopes that we can, build all the dreams we may,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: desire will not. Work but in The, church converted jew converted,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: gentile in The, church we can witness the glory Of
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: god at. Work and for, this he, says we give him.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Praise to him be the glory in The, church and
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: of course In Christ, jesus Because he is the, Soords
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: he is the one who makes the union between the
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: two otherwise warring parties possible to all, generations forever and, ever,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: literally unto all the generations of the, age to the. AGES. F.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: F bruce renders it from one age supervening upon another
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: into remotest. Infinity don't even try to write that. Down
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: just hear. It one age supervening upon another into remotest
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: infinity as far as far as far as you can even,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: imagine and multiple light years beyond that in either. Direction
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: may the glory be To him forever and. Ever and
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: the people At ephesus must have said at this, Point,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: amen wouldn't you think? So let's hear. It. Amen. Amen
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Eugene peterson renders the last, verse glory To god in The,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Church glory To god in The, Messiah glory down all the,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: generations glory through all the. Millennia oh, yes, Amen oh
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: this is. GREAT i feel like a cheerleader standing up
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: here right. Now are you given to? Discouragement then you've
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: Missed ephesian three fourteen to twenty. One you've missed the
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: whole reason it was. Written you're living in a realm
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: surrounded by, self, me myself AND. I your life is
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: now submerged underneath the needs that have come from the.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: Horizontal get beyond the, horizontal or you'll never make it
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: into any phase of the Life god has planned for.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: You this whole third chapter is designed to turn the
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: arrow from the horizontal to the, vertical linking you With
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: him in such power and confidence nothing can dissuade. You
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: are you given to? DISCOURAGEMENT i have three suggestions from
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: what we have. Read, first claim his. Strength it's not your,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: strength it's. His you've run out of. Strength that's why you're.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Discouraged or you're discouraged and therefore have run out of.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Strength claim his. Strength, second Remember you're loved as a
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: great Country western song AND i can't remember who sings,
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: it but the great line in it as this singer,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: finishes is that the greatest thing in life is to
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: have been loved by. You that makes a great romantic,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Line BUT i turn it vertically AND i, Say, lord
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: the greatest thing on earth is to Know i've been
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: loved by. You you love. Me you know all these
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: rotten things about, Me you know all the stuff that
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: has filled my. Mind you know the depth of my,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: depravity and you love. Me you know all the, scars
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: you know all the, stuff and you love. Me you
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: can't stay discouraged when you call that to. Mind claim his.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Strength remember your Loved seek his. Fullness seek his. Fullness
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: there's an old legendary story that goes something like. This
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: the devil once decided to go out of. Business it's
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: just an. Imaginel hallelujah is. Right so he offered his
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: tools for. Sale they were attractively displayed, trickery, hatred, malice, deceit, rage,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: sensuality and an assortment of other sharp, tools each marked
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: with a. Price but sitting in the center was a wedge,
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: shaped well worn, tool priced higher than all of the.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Others what is, that asked a potential. Buyer that is.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Discouragement why is it so? Costly because it can do
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: my evil. Work best of, All with, IT i can
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: make the lives of many folks seem of no. VALUE
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: i can make them just lie down and give up
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: and become useless and never Realize i'm the one using
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: it on. Them let's a bow, Together let's close our.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: EYES i don't know where you are right, now AND
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: i couldn't possibly know the details of your, life BUT
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: i know. This they're not that, great because this earth
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: really shoots us a crooked. Stick you're not probably getting
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: what you. Deserve you're not appreciated as you should be
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: right there in your own. Home you're going through a, difficult,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: difficult discouraging. Time you may have discovered that your mate
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: has had an affair and you're now having to work
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: your way through. It you may be the one having done.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: So you may be living in the backwash of an ugly.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: Divorce one of your own children may have told you
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: to get out of their. Life, whatever that, old sharp
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: tool of the enemy is at. Work Claim god's, Strength
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: remember your Loved seek his, fullness the essence Of god
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: available to. You if you've never come to the person
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Of christ, personally this is the. Moment what in the
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: world are you waiting. For you're surrounded by people who
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: were just like you are right, now and they realized
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: they needed to comprehend what they had never had a
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: clue about Before christ died to save people like. You
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: by giving your heart to, him you can become a
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: part of his forever. Family. Lord we need your kind
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: of strength because ours is shallow and, superficial and it
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: usually is. Conditional we need the reminder of your love
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: because we are by nature prone to, wander prone to
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: leave The god we once, Loved and certainly we need
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: the fullness that only you can provide. Yourself we ask
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: for those, things and we pray that Through, christ Our,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: lord we might know personally what it is to be
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: enveloped in the, deep deep love Of, jesus, vast, boundless,
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: unmeasurable and. Free In his, NAME i pray.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: Amen the preceding, Message paul on His Knees, again was
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in two, thousand two thousand and, one and two
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: thousand and, nine and the sound recording was copyrighted in
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: two thousand and nine By CHARLES. R, Swindahl. Inc all
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: rights are reserved. Worldwide duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: use is strictly prohibited at