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Prayer and Fasting Minus All the Pizzazz · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I'll be reading today from Matthew chapter 6. If you
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Speaker 1: have a copy of the scriptures with you, please turn.
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Speaker 1: Some of you have noted that I'm using various translations
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Speaker 1: on occasion. I had been using earlier in our study
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Speaker 1: of Matthew the New Living Translation, which I do enjoy,
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Speaker 1: and I think it would be good to use that
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Speaker 1: in the narration part. But when you get to certain
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Speaker 1: sections for careful instruction, I fall back on the New
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Speaker 1: American Standard, which I'll be reading from today. So we'll
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Speaker 1: go back and forth from time to time. Just understand
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Speaker 1: that you haven't lost your place. We're just changing translations
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Speaker 1: for the sake of clarification. And in this case, for
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Speaker 1: the exactness of the New American Standard. Scholars will tell
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Speaker 1: you that it is still the most accurate rendering of
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Speaker 1: the Greek and the Hebrew text, but it is not
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Speaker 1: the easiest to read or to hear. And my goal
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Speaker 1: in communication is to make sure that I am not
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Speaker 1: only accurate but clear and that it is understood by
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Speaker 1: those who are not familiar with the teaching of Scripture.
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Speaker 1: In this case, accuracy trumps accuracy. what would be called
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Speaker 1: a little easier reading. Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 through 18.
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Speaker 1: May we stand together for the reading of God's word.
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Speaker 1: Matthew 6, 9. Pray then in this way. Our Father
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Speaker 1: who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come,
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Speaker 1: your will be done Amen. Amen. For if you forgive
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Speaker 1: others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
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Speaker 1: But if you do not forgive others, then your Father
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Speaker 1: will not forgive your transgressions. Whenever you fast, do not
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Speaker 1: put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for
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Speaker 1: they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed
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Speaker 1: by men when they are fasting. Truly, I say to you,
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Speaker 1: they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast,
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Speaker 1: anoint your head and wash your face so that your
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Speaker 1: fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your
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Speaker 1: Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees
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Speaker 1: what is done in secret will reward you. I want
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Speaker 1: to ask the mothers to remain standing as all the
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Speaker 1: others of you. Please be seated. Thank you, ladies, for
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Speaker 1: just a further time where we focus on you. May
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Speaker 1: we bow together. Together, our Father, we thank you for
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Speaker 1: these ladies who represent the mother of the home. The
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Speaker 1: voice known first by a child and the heartbeat heard
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Speaker 1: first before the child is even born. Thank you, Father,
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Speaker 1: for your faithfulness in using these ladies in the lives
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Speaker 1: of their children. And we pray that that counsel that
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Speaker 1: has been lived out and spoken and in every way modeled,
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Speaker 1: will live on in the lives of those who will
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Speaker 1: outlive them. Bless them especially for their sacrificial decisions, for
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Speaker 1: their willingness to give themselves so devotedly and consistently to
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Speaker 1: the needs of their husbands and children. We learn so
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Speaker 1: much from these ladies. And thank you for giving them
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Speaker 1: to the family. Not only their own family, but your family.
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Speaker 1: And all that they contribute in all of our lives.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for what they have taught us regarding love, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, grace, reassurance.
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Speaker 1: And a reason to go on. Endurance. Hard, diligent work.
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Speaker 1: Bless them especially this day as attention is drawn to them,
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Speaker 1: not by themselves, but by those who love them. And
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Speaker 1: give all of us a renewed gratitude for the one
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Speaker 1: whose life helped shape ours. As they have given their
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Speaker 1: lives for their family, we give our gifts for you.
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Speaker 1: And we give them gratefully and joyfully. In the name
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Speaker 1: of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us,
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Speaker 1: we pray, we give. Everyone said, amen. One of the
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Speaker 1: marks of maturity in the Christian life is balance. Balance.
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Speaker 1: The ability to guard against extremes, even though extremes are
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Speaker 1: our natural tendency. Take, for example, evangelism. Instead of adopting
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Speaker 1: a lifestyle of sharing the claims of Christ in a natural, comfortable,
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Speaker 1: and gentle way, we go to the extremes. We either
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Speaker 1: become mute and never open our mouths publicly about faith
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Speaker 1: in Christ, or we elbow our way into people's lives
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Speaker 1: inappropriately and offensively. We lack the balance. I'm reading a
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Speaker 1: wonderful book titled The Allure of Gentleness by Dallas Willard,
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Speaker 1: the late Dallas Willard. And in it, he simply says,
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Speaker 1: extols the importance of gentleness when we speak of our faith,
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Speaker 1: when we defend our faith, when we share the life
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Speaker 1: of faith. Just gentleness. It requires balance to remain gentle. Confident,
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Speaker 1: but still pleasant to be with. Or let's take Bible
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Speaker 1: study and Everything good can be said about the study
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Speaker 1: of the scriptures. We, however, instead of valuing the word
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Speaker 1: of God and having a regular diet of time spent
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Speaker 1: in the scriptures, studying and meditating on it, we either
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Speaker 1: ignore our Bibles all week long and then scramble on
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Speaker 1: Sunday morning to remember where we put it when we
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Speaker 1: got home from church last Sunday because we haven't looked
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Speaker 1: at it all week. That's one extreme. Or We become
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Speaker 1: Bible freaks where everything is about Bible study. We don't
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Speaker 1: even do a good job at work because we've got
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Speaker 1: a Bible there on our lap and we're more interested
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Speaker 1: in that. We go to home Bible studies. We are
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Speaker 1: involved in various Bible groups, Bible classes. We may take
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Speaker 1: correspondence courses or enter an academic institution where we can
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Speaker 1: learn more about the Bible, the Bible. What's missing? It's balance. Balance.
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Speaker 1: You and I, we've all known teachers that lose their
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Speaker 1: balance and they become preoccupied with their one discipline, the
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Speaker 1: one subject that has consumed their thinking. We have a
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Speaker 1: name for them. We call them preoccupied professors. And who
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Speaker 1: studied in any kind of institution beyond high school hasn't
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Speaker 1: come across a preoccupied professor. I certainly have. Cynthia and
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Speaker 1: I know one whom we love dearly, but I mean,
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Speaker 1: he was such a scholar. You know, he could give
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Speaker 1: you the irregular verb chart in the Akkadian. He was
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Speaker 1: such a student of the Semitic languages, but they moved
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Speaker 1: to Philadelphia and on one weekend, he traveled to Baltimore
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Speaker 1: to minister. And I'm sure his ministry was effective, an
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Speaker 1: excellent teacher of the scriptures, but preoccupied. Well, he flew
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Speaker 1: back to Philadelphia, and he was waiting at the airport
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Speaker 1: for his wife, and she didn't show up. And he
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Speaker 1: called her, honey, where are you? Where am I? I'm home.
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Speaker 1: Where are you? He said, I'm at the airport. Why
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Speaker 1: are you at the airport? You drove to Baltimore. Can
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Speaker 1: you imagine? Preoccupied professors can't match their socks. They misbutton
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Speaker 1: their shirts. They have their mind fixed on one subject.
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Speaker 1: I studied under the late Merrill Unger, loved Dr. Unger
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Speaker 1: and respected him to the last day of his life.
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Speaker 1: But Dr. Unger was not altogether with the mind of
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Speaker 1: the student. And he would turn, back in those days,
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Speaker 1: they would put things on a chalkboard. Chalkboard. I know
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Speaker 1: you've never heard of that, but back when I studied,
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Speaker 1: they had chalkboards and Dr. Unger would turn it with
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Speaker 1: a flash. He would hit the chalkboard with this Hebrew word.
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Speaker 1: He said, let me show you. And he would write
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Speaker 1: this left to right, because that's the way you read,
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Speaker 1: or I should say right to left. I was going
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Speaker 1: that way. Right to left, right, and he's writing it
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Speaker 1: up there right to left, and you're like, and he
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Speaker 1: doesn't erase what was first on the board. He just
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Speaker 1: writes over what is already in Hebrew on the chalkboard,
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Speaker 1: and you're like, And finally, I said, Dr. Unger, could
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Speaker 1: you just erase? He goes, why? Read the last layer.
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Speaker 1: Last layer. The missing of the balance is common not
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Speaker 1: only among professors. It happens in most Christians' lives. And
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Speaker 1: I could use other illustrations. I think one of the
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Speaker 1: great contributions Jesus made in coming to this earth and
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Speaker 1: living among us was to model balance. Now, he's been
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Speaker 1: misrepresented not only by artists, but by fellow pastors and preachers.
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Speaker 1: He has been presented in one way when he isn't
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Speaker 1: like that at all. It's not the way the scriptures
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Speaker 1: present him. Do you know the only time that he
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Speaker 1: describes himself and his personality? I am meek and lowly
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Speaker 1: in heart. You will find rest for your soul. My
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Speaker 1: yoke is easy. My burden is light. Meek and gentle.
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Speaker 1: Not weak. Meek. What a great balance. What a great
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Speaker 1: balance to be able to stand firm against the criticism
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Speaker 1: of strong-hearted legalistic Pharisees without becoming ugly and revengeful in return,
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Speaker 1: holding a grudge against them. But he could speak firmly
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Speaker 1: against them in ways that you would never forget. He
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Speaker 1: is even so gracious as to teach us how to pray.
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Speaker 1: Isn't it wonderful that the second member of the Trinity
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Speaker 1: who comes to this earth as the God-man to live
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Speaker 1: among us for a little over 33 years, would reduce
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Speaker 1: all of the omniscience, the brilliance of all that was his,
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Speaker 1: and to reduce it to terms we could understand. So
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Speaker 1: that he would say something like, when you pray, this
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Speaker 1: is the way to do it. I love that. Now,
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Speaker 1: we're in Matthew 6, and you may remember the last
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Speaker 1: time we were here that everything began with a strong warning. Beware.
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Speaker 1: Watch out. Remember? Mind your motive. Remember the line? Mind
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Speaker 1: your motive. Verse 1. It's easy to practice your righteousness
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Speaker 1: before others that they might think better of you than
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Speaker 1: you really are. So don't do that. What's he calling for? Balance.
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Speaker 1: He's not saying don't give and don't pray and don't fast.
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Speaker 1: He's saying don't do it to show off. When you
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Speaker 1: go to extremes in these things, you become ostentatious. And
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Speaker 1: you're doing it so others will be impressed. And he's saying, no, no, no, no, don't.
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Speaker 1: Verse two, when you give, don't sound the trumpet. And
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Speaker 1: do you know that the Pharisees did that? They had
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Speaker 1: a trumpeter walk along with them, and he would blast
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Speaker 1: the trumpet as they took their money and put it
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Speaker 1: in the offering. Please, don't thump the bottom of the
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Speaker 1: offering plate. Don't wave a $ 100 bill before you drop it.
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Speaker 1: Just give. Just give. And by the way, when you pray,
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Speaker 1: verse 5 says, You're not to be like the hypocrites.
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Speaker 1: They love to be known for their long words and
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Speaker 1: the ostentatious show of prayer, and they like to be
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Speaker 1: in a public place where they can look holy, whatever
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Speaker 1: that means. No, the best place to pray is in
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Speaker 1: a private room and do your best work on your
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Speaker 1: knees when nobody's around. And those are the words, in effect,
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Speaker 1: that he's giving us today. in verses 5 through 8.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he ends by saying, don't be like the show-offs. So,
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Speaker 1: let's bring this into balance, and he comes to how
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Speaker 1: we are supposed to do it. And we come to
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Speaker 1: the most familiar prayer in everyone's life, known to you
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Speaker 1: and to me as the Lord's Prayer, though it isn't
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Speaker 1: the Lord's Prayer. It wasn't a prayer he prayed. It
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Speaker 1: was A pattern he gave us so we would know
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Speaker 1: how to pray. This is the Christian's prayer. This is
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Speaker 1: the believer's prayer. The Lord's prayer is in John 17.
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Speaker 1: Where he prays just before he goes to Gethsemane. And
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Speaker 1: ultimately under arrest in the cross. But this prayer is
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Speaker 1: for you and me. So he says to us. The
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Speaker 1: simple words. Pray. Verse 9. In this way. Now. Because
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Speaker 1: it is so familiar, we no longer realize what we're saying.
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Speaker 1: Familiarity brings not just contempt, but a lack of sensitivity.
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Speaker 1: Probably haven't thought through this prayer as thoroughly as we should.
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Speaker 1: So allow me to do that without being pedantic. Let
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Speaker 1: me just put it in terms that we can all remember.
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Speaker 1: The first part of the prayer is all about the
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Speaker 1: Lord God. That's verses 9 through 10. Yes, 9 to 10.
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Speaker 1: It's all about the Lord. When you get to verse
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Speaker 1: 11 down through 13, it's about you and me. So
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Speaker 1: the first part is praise and adoration. And the last
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Speaker 1: part is petitions. As we ask God for certain things.
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Speaker 1: I want to give you four words for each section. Okay?
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Speaker 1: In verses 9 and 10, the words are name, realm, rule,
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Speaker 1: and will. Name, realm, rule, and will. So when you pray,
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Speaker 1: we begin with the name. Please observe it. our Father,
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Speaker 1: not dear Jesus. It doesn't say when you pray, pray
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Speaker 1: now Spirit of God. No, we address prayers to the
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Speaker 1: Father through Christ in the power of the Spirit of God.
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Speaker 1: So learn that. Learn to do it right. You hear
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Speaker 1: a lot of prayers addressed to Jesus. I'm not beating
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Speaker 1: up on folks like that. I'm just saying it's not
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Speaker 1: the pattern that was given to us. If he knew
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Speaker 1: what was best and tells you, begin your prayers with
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Speaker 1: our Father, then go there. And think of Father. Think
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Speaker 1: of the word. And hopefully you had a good father. Understanding, accepting, forgiving, gracious,
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Speaker 1: strong of heart, faithful, consistent, diligent. All those concepts come
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Speaker 1: to mind when you use the word Father. So when
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Speaker 1: I begin my prayer, dear Father, or Father in heaven,
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Speaker 1: or dear Lord God, whatever word I may choose, my
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Speaker 1: mind turns to those qualities that are true of a father.
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Speaker 1: I'm encouraged by that. Now, look at the realm who
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Speaker 1: is in heaven. The Greek says, in the heavens. Our
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Speaker 1: Father in the heavens, literally. Get this. He not only inhabits,
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Speaker 1: he encompasses the heavens. It speaks of his transcendence. so
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Speaker 1: that he is not in any way linked to, tied
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Speaker 1: to time or year or season or date. He is
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Speaker 1: forever with us. Tozer put it like this. We think
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Speaker 1: of ourselves as inhabiting some parenthetic interval between the God
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Speaker 1: who was and the God who will be. And in
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Speaker 1: this ever-present now, we are lonely with that ancient and
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Speaker 1: cosmic loneliness. Why would we be lonely? Because we think
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Speaker 1: of God in segments, but he is in the heavens.
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Speaker 1: He is the same as he was in eternity past,
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Speaker 1: since the passing of time to today, all through this day, tomorrow,
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Speaker 1: and all into the future, into eternity future. He transcends
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Speaker 1: because he is the one in the heavens, above us,
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Speaker 1: beyond us, around us, encircling us, encompassing us, enveloping us.
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Speaker 1: Our Father everywhere at one time in the heavens. That's
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Speaker 1: his realm. And please observe hallowed be your name. I
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Speaker 1: would venture to guess you have not used the word
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Speaker 1: hallowed maybe three times in your life, if that. We
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Speaker 1: don't use the word today. We don't even know for
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Speaker 1: sure what it means. If you memorize the Gettysburg Address,
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Speaker 1: you know that Lincoln used it as he referred to
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Speaker 1: the hallowed ground at Gettysburg where those brave soldiers had died.
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Speaker 1: He even said, we're not able to hallow this place.
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Speaker 1: Only you could do this, Lord. The word hallowed means holy.
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Speaker 1: Get this, set apart, consecrated, Separate from, implied separate from sin.
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Speaker 1: The Lord our God is forever holy. Isaiah, who wrote
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Speaker 1: of him in chapter 6, pictured him enthroned and angels
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Speaker 1: around him as they worshiped. praised him with the thrice
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Speaker 1: repeated holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts. Infinitely holy.
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Speaker 1: Perfectly holy. Without a stain, without a mark of sinfulness.
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Speaker 1: He is in the realm of that hallowed existence. No
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Speaker 1: wonder Moses would write, as the Lord gave to him
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Speaker 1: the commandments, do not use the name of the Lord
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Speaker 1: God in vain. Break the habit of saying, oh my God.
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Speaker 1: Don't lower him to a slang expression. Keep his name
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Speaker 1: separate from all slang. Reserve a place in your life
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Speaker 1: and heart and mind for the one who fills the
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Speaker 1: heavens and is the separate one. Though he has been
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Speaker 1: gracious to connect with us who are so sinful and
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Speaker 1: so in need of forgiveness. We'll get to that in
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Speaker 1: a moment. So we have his name. We have his realm. Third,
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Speaker 1: we have his rule. Look closely. Your kingdom come. Let's
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Speaker 1: take a double view of this word, okay? Kingdom. All
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Speaker 1: through the pages of the Old Testament, periodically I should say,
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Speaker 1: through those Old Testament references and into the New Testament,
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Speaker 1: there is an anticipation of the coming of the king
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Speaker 1: who will reign as king of kings and lord of lords.
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Speaker 1: He is pictured in Revelation 20 as having come and
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus is reigning and ruling over the kingdom
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Speaker 1: for a literal thousand year reign, fulfilling the promise to
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Speaker 1: Israel that he will reign over you and you will
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Speaker 1: be his people and he will be your God. It's
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Speaker 1: the beautiful eschatological portrait of the one yet future. The
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Speaker 1: one who will bring with him his kingdom. Where you
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Speaker 1: have a kingdom, you must have a king. And where
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Speaker 1: you have a king, you must have a ruler. Which
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Speaker 1: ties me into this word rule. The rulership is under
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Speaker 1: the authority of Christ himself. That's future. Let me show
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Speaker 1: you the same prayer in other words. Go to the
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Speaker 1: last chapter in the Bible. Here we go. All the
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Speaker 1: way over there. Little dust pockets are forming in the
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Speaker 1: pews as you move to Revelation 22. Haven't been here
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Speaker 1: in a long time, have we? Revelation 22, if I
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Speaker 1: can ever find it. Revelation. There. I always think one
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Speaker 1: of my kids cut out a verse or two when
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Speaker 1: I was going to get to it. Not now. Look
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Speaker 1: at 22, 17. The spirit and the bride say, come.
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Speaker 1: Let the one who hears say, come. And let the
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Speaker 1: one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes
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Speaker 1: take the water of life without cost. Your kingdom come.
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Speaker 1: Verse 20. He who testifies to these things says, yes,
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Speaker 1: I'm coming quickly. Amen. That's the Lord Jesus. This is
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Speaker 1: the revelation of Singular. Don't call it the book of revelations.
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Speaker 1: It isn't plural. This is a great revelation, singular, of
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Speaker 1: the plan of the Lord Jesus Christ as it has
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Speaker 1: been mapped out by the Father and will be implemented
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Speaker 1: through the power of the Son, through the power of
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Speaker 1: the Spirit. This is the Son who's saying, I come quickly, amen,
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Speaker 1: and John responds, responds, come Lord Jesus. 21, the grace
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Speaker 1: of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. That's the
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Speaker 1: end of the Bible. What a grand crescendo at the
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Speaker 1: end of the Bible. And it ends with that reference
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Speaker 1: to his coming and setting up his enthronement. Now back
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Speaker 1: to the prayer. Your kingdom, it is a burning desire
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Speaker 1: that kingdom comes sooner rather than later. There's an application
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Speaker 1: also in this. I said, let's look at it in
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Speaker 1: a dual way. The other is that he reigned in
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Speaker 1: my life. Remember what I said, wherever there's a kingdom,
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Speaker 1: there's a ruler. And wherever there is a ruler, there
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Speaker 1: is the obedience, the following of the lead of the ruler,
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Speaker 1: the will of the ruler. That's why he says, your
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Speaker 1: will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Speaker 1: When the will of God is being done in my life,
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Speaker 1: It is a living personification of the kingdom of Christ
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Speaker 1: at work in me. Same is true for you. When
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Speaker 1: I give up my will and I embrace his will,
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Speaker 1: he is enthroned in that decision. I'm modeling the kingdom
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Speaker 1: life is the way it's been put. I like the
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Speaker 1: way that sounds. That his kingdom is at work through
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Speaker 1: me and in me And so he prays, your will
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Speaker 1: be done on earth as it is in heaven. What
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Speaker 1: a great, great thought. Now, God is our father and
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Speaker 1: we worship him, verses 9 and 10, by remembering his name,
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Speaker 1: his realm, his rule, and his will. When you get
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Speaker 1: to the next verse and down to the end of
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Speaker 1: the prayer, Let me have you notice four statements. Got
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Speaker 1: your pen ready? Eleven, give us. Twelve, forgive us. Thirteen,
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Speaker 1: lead us. Thirteen, the middle of the verse, deliver us.
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Speaker 1: You ever notice that? In all the quoting of the
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Speaker 1: Lord's Prayer, which really is our prayer to be followed
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Speaker 1: as the Lord gave it first of all we are
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Speaker 1: petitioning him that he will give all four words by
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Speaker 1: the way imply dependence only he can provide what we
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Speaker 1: need only he can forgive and Only he can give
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Speaker 1: inerrant direction to my life. Only he can rescue me
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Speaker 1: or deliver me. So give us. It's a request for
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Speaker 1: daily sustenance. It doesn't say give us this day our
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Speaker 1: daily cake. Or a couple of pies. Or a full
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Speaker 1: meal that every time we sit down. It's daily bread.
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Speaker 1: Basic sustenance. You can live on that. Daily bread. Bread.
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Speaker 1: Notice the faithfulness of God is in the daily. He
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Speaker 1: does it daily. Not always in abundance, but sometime he
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Speaker 1: lays a feast before us. It's a magnificent moment when
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Speaker 1: that occurs. I may have told you when Cynthia and
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Speaker 1: I were in seminary, we asked all the men from
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Speaker 1: another country. When we were there, it was only one
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Speaker 1: other country. Now there are over 40 countries at Dallas
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Speaker 1: Seminary represented. But back then, it was only Korea. And
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Speaker 1: the Korean fellows would come. Back then, it was an
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Speaker 1: all-male student body. So the Korean fellows would come. And
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Speaker 1: they would leave family, wife, children in Korea. And they
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Speaker 1: would come for four years and never go home till
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Speaker 1: they finished. Quite a commitment. And we decided, one Thanksgiving,
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Speaker 1: to invite them to come over. And we invited. I
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Speaker 1: think there were 17 of them. And they all came,
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Speaker 1: white shirts, black tie. They just were so gracious, and
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Speaker 1: they walked in. We had gone in with another couple,
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Speaker 1: and we had done two folding tables full of food.
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Speaker 1: You know how you do on Thanksgiving. So we had
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Speaker 1: two turkeys. We had all the trimmings in both tables.
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Speaker 1: We had vegetables, and we had salads, and then we
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Speaker 1: ultimately had dessert. And I'll never forget, they walked up,
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Speaker 1: and they just, ah, ah. More than one of them said,
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Speaker 1: I've never in my life seen so much food. You
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Speaker 1: could feed a family for six months. If you could
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Speaker 1: preserve the food, you could feed them for six months
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Speaker 1: on this food. And I was moved over that. I
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Speaker 1: said to one of the gentlemen, the elder, the oldest
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Speaker 1: of the group, I said, would you lead us in
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Speaker 1: prayer in your tongue? Lead us in Korean. Let me
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Speaker 1: tell you something. If you want somebody to pray, ask
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Speaker 1: a Korean. I mean, a film formed over the gravy.
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Speaker 1: I mean, he went on. He went from Alaska to Zurich.
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Speaker 1: I mean, it was, but it was a magnificent prayer.
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Speaker 1: I didn't understand a word of it. And as he's praying,
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Speaker 1: dumb me, I think. Can God understand What are you saying? Dodo.
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Speaker 1: He fills the heavens. He knows every language, every dialect,
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Speaker 1: every one not yet formed into words, every grunt, every whistle,
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Speaker 1: every movement of the heart, every decision of the mind.
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Speaker 1: He is the God of the heavens. We extol him
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Speaker 1: as our hallowed heavenly father. And we come needing bread
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Speaker 1: and you sometimes put a Thanksgiving feast in front of us.
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Speaker 1: Other days we hardly have enough to feed our family.
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Speaker 1: Most of us have been there. But he faithfully and
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Speaker 1: daily provides the bread. And the deep need we have,
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Speaker 1: look at it further, forgive us As we have forgiven others.
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Speaker 1: They tie together. Don't miss that. We would know nothing
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Speaker 1: of inner cleansing. If it weren't for our heavenly father.
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Speaker 1: You can't cleanse yourself. That was the complaint. The Pharisees had.
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Speaker 1: When Jesus told them. That he was able to forgive sin.
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Speaker 1: Only God can forgive sins. They had this case against him.
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Speaker 1: Thinking he was just this illegitimate son. From Nazareth. How
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Speaker 1: dare you say you can forgive sin. You see, here
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Speaker 1: we acknowledge God forgives us our sins and so does
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Speaker 1: the Son of God. And it's with such grace that
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Speaker 1: it breaks our pride and our arrogance and we can
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Speaker 1: no longer hold a grudge. Those who really know forgiveness
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Speaker 1: are those who have first truly forgiven those who've hurt them.
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Speaker 1: I've said for years we all have the same thing
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Speaker 1: in common. We all have people who have hurt us
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Speaker 1: They really hurt us. And we have a choice. We
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Speaker 1: can drag them all the way through our lives like
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Speaker 1: a little boat in a lake with the anchor still
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Speaker 1: out dragging on the snags at the bottom of the lake.
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Speaker 1: Or we can pull in the anchor, forgive everyone that's
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Speaker 1: hurt us, and then know the joy of full forgiveness.
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Speaker 1: If you're a grudge holder, today's a great day to
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Speaker 1: get rid of the grudge. Just give it up. Give
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Speaker 1: it to the Lord. Say to the Lord, I don't
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Speaker 1: deserve your forgiveness and I realize you forgive me regularly.
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Speaker 1: How could I possibly hold this against her or him?
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Speaker 1: I don't care who her or him may be. I
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Speaker 1: don't care how bad they've been. You have one task.
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Speaker 1: Forgive them. The alternative will haunt you and you will be,
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Speaker 1: according to Matthew 18, turned over to the torturers and
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Speaker 1: you will be tortured in your soul. till you release
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Speaker 1: the debt. Forgive them. Forgive us as we have forgiven
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Speaker 1: those who are our debtors. And lead us not into temptation.
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Speaker 1: Now what kind of a prayer is that? I thought
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Speaker 1: God was holy, infinitely holy. He is. Well then, why
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Speaker 1: would he ever lead us into temptation? Look closely. You've
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Speaker 1: said it all your life, but probably never ever thought
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Speaker 1: this through. Lead us not into temptation. This is called
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Speaker 1: a permissive imperative. Stay with me. It's a command that
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Speaker 1: allows permission. Imperative is a command and permissive means that.
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Speaker 1: It means do not permit us to be led into temptation.
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Speaker 1: Got it? Do not permit us to stumble into wrong,
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Speaker 1: to be deceived and fall into temptation. Do not allow
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Speaker 1: us to be overwhelmed by temptation. That's the idea. And
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Speaker 1: then finally, notice, deliver us. This is a petition for rescue.
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Speaker 1: Look closely. Deliver us from what? From evil. There are
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Speaker 1: some who teach, and it may be true, the evil one.
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Speaker 1: Who would that be? The adversary. The devil himself. Rescue
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Speaker 1: us from the clutches of the adversary. You know why?
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Speaker 1: Because he hates everything we love. He hates the will
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Speaker 1: of God. He hates the word of God. He hates
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Speaker 1: your joy in Christ. Because he once had that favored
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Speaker 1: position and fell. In fact, 17th century Puritan Thomas Watson
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Speaker 1: put it in this sentence. Satan envies man's happiness to
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Speaker 1: see a cloud of dust. That's us. So near to
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Speaker 1: God and himself once a glorious angel cast out of
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Speaker 1: heavenly paradise makes him curse mankind with inveterate hatred. Great writing.
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Speaker 1: This who was once an angel now cast out looks
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Speaker 1: with envy on us who have this favored place because
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Speaker 1: of the death and resurrection of Christ and our relationship
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Speaker 1: with him. Deliver us, Lord. Rescue us when the enemy
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Speaker 1: would pull us down, down, down. He knows he's fighting
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Speaker 1: against time. Lord, deliver us. Rescue us. What a great prayer.
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Speaker 1: If you're ever in a dark place, and who isn't?
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Speaker 1: If you ever visit a dark country, and most of
39:26
Speaker 1: us do, if you're ever around people whose lives are
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Speaker 1: marked by the sinister the darkness of evil you need
39:37
Speaker 1: to pray this rescue me God deliver me from any
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Speaker 1: pull any magnet That would appeal to my lower nature.
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Speaker 1: Keep me free from that. Rescue me. For yours is
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Speaker 1: the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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Speaker 1: How good is that? Do you know what he does?
40:11
Speaker 1: He puts a postscript on it. Maybe you didn't realize it.
40:15
Speaker 1: He goes back and touches on one thing that you
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Speaker 1: may have wanted to overlook. Look at the next two verses.
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Speaker 1: Quickly now. If you forgive others for their transgressions, your
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Speaker 1: Heavenly Father will also forgive you. Remember he mentioned, forgive
40:30
Speaker 1: us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted
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Speaker 1: to us. And he goes back and says, now if
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Speaker 1: you forgive others, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.
40:37
Speaker 1: But if you do not, what a warning. If you
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Speaker 1: do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
40:54
Speaker 1: There's something of a balance here between foundation and flexibility.
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Speaker 1: The flexibility is in the grace of God. The foundation
41:07
Speaker 1: is that permanent character of God that holds fast When
41:15
Speaker 1: I was in California, I developed a wonderful relationship with
41:18
Speaker 1: Earl Palmer when Earl was the pastor of First Presbyterian
41:21
Speaker 1: Church up in Berkeley, right there in the near vicinity
41:28
Speaker 1: of the Golden Gate Bridge. And Earl Palmer uses the
41:31
Speaker 1: Golden Gate Bridge as an illustration of this difference. I
41:34
Speaker 1: want you to hear it. I want to read his words.
41:38
Speaker 1: I've often thought of the Golden Gate Bridge in San
41:40
Speaker 1: Francisco as our city's boldest structure in that its great
41:44
Speaker 1: south pier rests directly upon the fault zone of the
41:48
Speaker 1: San Andreas Fault. That bridge is an amazing structure of
41:53
Speaker 1: both flexibility and strength. It is built to sway some
41:58
Speaker 1: 20 feet in the center of its one mile suspension span.
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Speaker 1: The secret to its durability is its flexibility that enables
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Speaker 1: this sway, but that is not all. By design, Every
42:16
Speaker 1: part of the bridge, its concrete roadway, its steel railings,
42:20
Speaker 1: its cross beams, is inevitably related from one welded joint
42:27
Speaker 1: to the other up through the vast cable system to
42:31
Speaker 1: two great towers. And two great land anchor piers. Picture this.
42:42
Speaker 1: The towers bear most of the weight and they are
42:45
Speaker 1: deeply embedded into the rock foundation beneath the sea. In
42:51
Speaker 1: other words, the bridge is totally preoccupied with its foundation.
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Speaker 1: This is its secret, flexibility and foundation. In the Christian life,
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Speaker 1: it is the forgiveness of the gospel that grants us
43:09
Speaker 1: our flexibility, and it is the Lord of the gospel
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Speaker 1: that gives us our foundation. How good an illustration is that?
43:17
Speaker 1: I wish I would have thought of that. But I'm
43:20
Speaker 1: not nearly as bright as Earl, and so it's his
43:23
Speaker 1: to claim. That's an Earl Palmer story. It's a great one. Whenever,
43:28
Speaker 1: if ever, and I hope you will someday, cross that
43:31
Speaker 1: great bridge, as I have many times, And you're out
43:35
Speaker 1: on it, you hear the wind whistling through those cables
43:37
Speaker 1: out on that swaying bridge. Remember, foundation, flexibility. You and
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Speaker 1: I are able to forgive and flex because our faithful
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Speaker 1: father stands firm. The foundation of God stands sure having
43:58
Speaker 1: this seal, writes Paul. The Lord knows those who are his.
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Speaker 1: and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart
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Speaker 1: from iniquity. Whenever you fast, I don't know if you fast,
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Speaker 1: probably rarely, huh? Isn't it interesting we don't talk about
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Speaker 1: fasting much? It's when you pass up a meal to
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Speaker 1: take care of that which is a greater priority than
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Speaker 1: the meal. You don't have to fix the meal, prepare
44:30
Speaker 1: the meal, sit down to eat a meal, you can
44:33
Speaker 1: stay focused on what it is that's of concern to you.
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Speaker 1: That's right. I agree. Don't mess with him. Why do
44:52
Speaker 1: we fast? Several reasons. Helps us concentrate our attention on issues.
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Speaker 1: It's good for our health. It enables us to rearrange
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Speaker 1: and fix our priorities in the right place. It encourages
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Speaker 1: us to examine our lives and motives. It assists us
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Speaker 1: in finding the Lord's will. I've never really sought the
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Speaker 1: Lord's will in a serious area of my life without
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Speaker 1: fasting for a while, and I don't usually announce that.
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Speaker 1: But I find if I don't spend my time with meals,
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Speaker 1: I can stay focused on what is your will in
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Speaker 1: this matter. Should I do this or not? And it
45:28
Speaker 1: may mean a major lifestyle change. It assists us when
45:33
Speaker 1: we seek the Lord's will. It strengthens us in our
45:35
Speaker 1: own self-control. Helps us deal with and recover from grief.
45:41
Speaker 1: Most people who grieve have lost their appetite. It brings
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Speaker 1: us to the basics of life and simplifies. Now, in
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Speaker 1: the days of Jesus, people who fast put white makeup
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Speaker 1: on their faces. And they messed up their hair. And
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Speaker 1: they wore tattered clothes. And they walk around with what
46:01
Speaker 1: I call the tired look. You know, like we preachers
46:07
Speaker 1: sometimes walk. Carrying the burdens of life so they'll look holy.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, stop that. I want none of that to
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Speaker 1: go on when you fast. You're doing that only to
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Speaker 1: impress other people. So what should you do? Verse 17,
46:29
Speaker 1: when you fast, anoint your head, fix up your hair,
46:36
Speaker 1: wash your face, and don't stop there. Just come right
46:39
Speaker 1: on down. Wash all over. There's nothing godly about body odor.
46:44
Speaker 1: There's nothing great about bad breath. Clean yourself up so
46:51
Speaker 1: that your fasting won't even be noticed by someone. And
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Speaker 1: as a result, your father who sees what is done
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Speaker 1: in secret will reward you. It's a good test on
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Speaker 1: your motive to fast without ever saying anything about it
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Speaker 1: to anyone at the time.
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Speaker 2: Ever.
47:15
Speaker 1: Just do it. Only your family will know. And you
47:18
Speaker 1: can simply say to them, I'm going to pass up
47:20
Speaker 1: some meals right now. And I just have some things
47:26
Speaker 1: in my heart I've got to work through. Let me
47:29
Speaker 1: give you a couple of tips and we're through. Scouts Honor.
47:33
Speaker 1: Number one, make the Heavenly Father your main focus, not
47:38
Speaker 1: people around you. Make your Heavenly Father your main focus,
47:43
Speaker 1: not the people around you. Put in the margin of
47:45
Speaker 1: your notes, we have an audience of one. Only one
47:51
Speaker 1: really knows our heart. Only one can reward us eternally.
47:56
Speaker 1: So live your life before him. Please him. Honor him.
48:00
Speaker 1: Do his will. Not the will of other people. The
48:07
Speaker 1: great day in my life when I realized that a
48:09
Speaker 1: faithful pastor is not here to please the flock. I'm
48:13
Speaker 1: here to shepherd the flock. And there's a difference. You
48:19
Speaker 1: need to be shepherded, led. You don't need me impressing
48:25
Speaker 1: you with stuff. And I don't need to concern myself
48:30
Speaker 1: with whether you agree or not agree. That's first. Number two,
48:34
Speaker 1: and finally, make the secret place your primary platform, not
48:39
Speaker 1: some public place. Make the secret place your primary platform,
48:45
Speaker 1: not some public place. May your best prayers never be
48:50
Speaker 1: heard by anyone else. May your most faithful act of
48:54
Speaker 1: devotion be done in secret. anonymously, so that your Heavenly
49:01
Speaker 1: Father will reward you secretly. Thank you, dear Lord, for
49:10
Speaker 1: your good work in our hearts. You are our Father,
49:16
Speaker 1: and we love you dearly. we are in awe of
49:20
Speaker 1: you we worship you we love you thank you for
49:28
Speaker 1: making room in your grace to include us of all
49:32
Speaker 1: people thank you for teaching us so faithfully from this
49:38
Speaker 1: book that never gets old Timeless as it is true.
49:43
Speaker 1: Help us we pray when we give. When we pray
49:46
Speaker 1: and when we fast. To do it for your glory.
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Speaker 1: Never to be seen or known by others. In the
49:54
Speaker 1: name of Christ we pray. Everyone said. Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message. Prayer and fasting minus all the pizzazz.
50:05
Speaker 2: Was copyrighted in 2015 and 2021. And the sound recording
50:10
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All
50:15
Speaker 2: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
50:20
Speaker 2: use is strictly prohibited.