Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Prayer Worth Remembering and Modeling Msg 210 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Prayer Worth Remembering and Modeling Msg 210 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: If you'll allow me just a few personal moments here.
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Speaker 1: This is a bit of a nostalgic morning as we
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Speaker 1: ordained these five fine men and their wives. Because very
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Speaker 1: recently we lost one of the great defenders of the
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Speaker 1: faith and outstanding expositors in the ranks. And that would
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Speaker 1: be Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost. who lived 99 years and
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Speaker 1: four days. Dr. Pentecost shaped the lives of all of
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Speaker 1: us who have studied at Dallas Seminary, and we say
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Speaker 1: farewell to him after a life well lived. And I
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Speaker 1: thought how perfect it is. Five enter the ranks as
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Speaker 1: one steps out of them. And we need you, men,
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Speaker 1: to be expositors of the word of God. Got it? Expositors. Good.
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Speaker 1: I forgot to mention that earlier. That's why I'm yelling
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Speaker 1: at you right now. I'm confident of two things about
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Speaker 1: each one of you. Two things. Even though I don't
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Speaker 1: know most of you personally. First, I'm confident that you pray.
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Speaker 1: You are a person that believes in prayer. You may
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Speaker 1: or may not use a prayer list. You may not
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Speaker 1: know how to do it like others know how to
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Speaker 1: do it, but you on your own pray. Second thing
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Speaker 1: I know about you is that when you pray, you
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Speaker 1: remember those you love, those you know well. Because you
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Speaker 1: know them well, you can pray specifically for them. Both
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Speaker 1: are commendable. These are great habits to cultivate. The habit
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Speaker 1: of prayer for those you know and those you love.
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Speaker 1: More than you realize, it keeps them on their feet,
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Speaker 1: keeps them going. So keep doing it. Now there's another
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Speaker 1: side to all of this you may not have thought
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Speaker 1: of before, which Paul reminds us of when we come
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Speaker 1: to the first chapter of Colossians, verses 9 through 14.
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Speaker 1: And that is praying for people alive. You don't know.
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Speaker 1: People you have never met, do you pray for them
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Speaker 1: as you pray for those you know and love? You
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Speaker 1: may be surprised to know that I've taken a quick
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Speaker 1: survey through the scriptures on my own and found there
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Speaker 1: are numerous prayers offered up by individuals praying for people
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Speaker 1: they'd never met. People they did not know. I believe
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Speaker 1: people prayed for me during my growing up years that
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Speaker 1: didn't know me. But they knew my parents. And probably
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Speaker 1: knew what my parents were having to deal with. I
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Speaker 1: remember the first prayer of my mother. God help you
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Speaker 1: if you ever do that again. Very clear in my mind.
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Speaker 1: She knew me. There were people who were prayed for
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Speaker 1: all around the world, and I wonder if you're one
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Speaker 1: of those that intercedes for them. Today, my challenge is
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Speaker 1: that you become that. And this is a prayer worth
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Speaker 1: remembering and modeling. We heard rather recently of a tragedy
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Speaker 1: that struck central Arkansas. As treacherous tornadoes swept through, flooding
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Speaker 1: along with the enormous velocity of winds, Cynthia and I
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Speaker 1: indirectly received an email from Dennis Rainey, who lives there
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Speaker 1: and carries on his family life ministry, and he mentioned
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Speaker 1: the loss of lives of those within their own ranks.
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Speaker 1: It broke our hearts. We did not know any of them,
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Speaker 1: but we prayed for them. One was a story of
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Speaker 1: a father who was doing what fathers do, getting the children,
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Speaker 1: getting his wife into a place of protection, and before
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Speaker 1: he could slam the door shut to protect them, that
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Speaker 1: tornado hit, and the house was splintered, and he was
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Speaker 1: killed along with two of his children. Heartbreaking situation. Imagine that.
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Speaker 1: You're safe and up above your daddy or your husband
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Speaker 1: is lost, gone, and your siblings. When we heard that,
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Speaker 1: we didn't need to know their names. We called on
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Speaker 1: God to meet the deep needs of the lives of those,
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Speaker 1: not just that family, but the others. Dozens of others
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Speaker 1: who have lost home and some of them lost heart
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Speaker 1: to go on. Now we have before us from this
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Speaker 1: prayer guidance on how to go about it. I've given
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Speaker 1: you an outline to follow and we've kept it very simple.
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Speaker 1: Simple two, three, four points we want to make about
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Speaker 1: this prayer that's worth remembering. So let's follow it. First,
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Speaker 1: we are to pray for others in this category continually. Now,
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Speaker 1: why would I say that? Look at your Bible. Colossians 1.9.
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Speaker 1: So we have not stopped praying for you. That's where
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Speaker 1: I get the word continually. Pray for others continually. Continually.
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Speaker 1: Look over at chapter 2 and verse 1, a bit
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Speaker 1: of a surprise in the letter, where Paul says, I
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Speaker 1: want you to know, still writing to the people, and
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Speaker 1: by the way, he had never met these Colossians. The
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Speaker 1: little church is never mentioned once in the book of Acts,
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Speaker 1: which is a travelogue of Paul's journeys. He doesn't mention
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Speaker 1: the Colossians because he was never with them. Never in
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Speaker 1: the city, as best we can tell. But look at
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Speaker 1: verse 1 of chapter 2. I want you to know
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Speaker 1: how much I have agonized for you. The Greek word
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Speaker 1: is agona. A-G-O-N-A. We get literally our word from that. Agona.
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Speaker 1: I agonize for you and for the church at Laodicea
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Speaker 1: and for many other believers who have never met me personally.
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Speaker 1: He doesn't know them. He doesn't know the people in
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Speaker 1: the church at Laodicea. and most likely was never there either.
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Speaker 1: But he prays for them. Now, observe in his consistent
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Speaker 1: faithfulness to pray for them that he had to have information.
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Speaker 1: How would he know about them if he didn't know
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Speaker 1: them personally? Remember the name Epaphras from our last time together,
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Speaker 1: verse 7? where he writes, you learned, meaning the people
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Speaker 1: of Colossae, you learned about the good news, and here
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Speaker 1: he names him, from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker, Christ's faithful servant.
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Speaker 1: He's helping us on your behalf. I take it that
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Speaker 1: Epaphras was from Colossae, and that Paul has a friendship
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Speaker 1: with Epaphras, and when he comes to Rome to sit
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Speaker 1: down alongside Paul, who by the way is chained to
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Speaker 1: to a Roman soldier as Paul is under house arrest,
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Speaker 1: writing this letter, that's why it's called one of the
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Speaker 1: prison epistles, this in Philippians and Ephesians and Philemon, all
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Speaker 1: in that category, Paul writing the Colossians mentions Epaphras. He says,
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Speaker 1: I've talked with Epaphras in so many words, he says,
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Speaker 1: and he's helped us on your behalf. In fact, he
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Speaker 1: says in verse 8, He told us about the love
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Speaker 1: for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. Hold
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Speaker 1: your place and look at chapter 4, verse 12. One
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Speaker 1: of the great ways of working your way through letters
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Speaker 1: and books of the Bible is to correlate verses. Look
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Speaker 1: at 4.12. Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and
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Speaker 1: a servant of Christ Jesus, sends his greetings. He always
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Speaker 1: prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong
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Speaker 1: and mature and fully confident that you are following the
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Speaker 1: whole will of God. Got it? That's where we go.
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Speaker 1: When we want to pray for others, we pray continually
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Speaker 1: for them, Now, in the case of the Colossians, you
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Speaker 1: may have forgotten, they're living under the barrage of false
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Speaker 1: teachers who are infiltrating this little church. These false teachers.
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Speaker 1: are coming with their smooth talk, albeit their deceptive motives,
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Speaker 1: and they are badgering these Christians in Colossae, telling them
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Speaker 1: in so many words, look, there's a There's a higher
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Speaker 1: way to believe than the way you've been taught by
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Speaker 1: this guy named Epaphras. There's a deeper life you've never
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Speaker 1: entered into. Let us take you into this new doctrine,
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Speaker 1: and they promise that they will become recipients of a
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Speaker 1: higher touch of knowledge than they would ever get from Epaphras.
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Speaker 1: And so Paul is saying, I never stopped praying for you,
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Speaker 1: knowing you're under that pressure. And by the way, let
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Speaker 1: me add this. Some of you may have been cornered
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Speaker 1: by false teachers. You may have been. I might even
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Speaker 1: add some of you may already be under the influence
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Speaker 1: of a false teacher. And you don't realize it's a
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Speaker 1: false teacher. He doesn't wear a badge that says I'm
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Speaker 1: a phony. That's not the way false teachers come across.
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Speaker 1: You know, a counterfeit dollar isn't yellow in the shape
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Speaker 1: of a triangle with number 11 on it. That don't
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Speaker 1: fool anybody. Looks exactly like a $ 20 bill. Looks exactly
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Speaker 1: like a $ 50 bill. False teachers look exactly like true teachers,
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Speaker 1: but they're teaching a false doctrine. So what does Paul
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Speaker 1: say in verse 9? He continues, we ask God to
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Speaker 1: give you Look at this. The New Living Translation renders
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Speaker 1: this to give you complete knowledge of his will. Notice
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Speaker 1: it's God's will, not the will of some teacher that's
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Speaker 1: coming into town. And to give you spiritual wisdom. And
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Speaker 1: to give you, implied here, spiritual understanding. You see, false
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Speaker 1: teachers promise you a knowledge and wisdom and understanding, but
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Speaker 1: it isn't the knowledge of God's will. It's their new
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Speaker 1: doctrine that is stimulating and they deliver it with great
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Speaker 1: charisma and persuasion. Some of the best communicators on the
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Speaker 1: planet are false teachers. You forget that. You think if
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Speaker 1: they're gifted and they're competent and there's a crowd that's
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Speaker 1: come to hear them They must be worth following. Watch it.
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Speaker 1: I like the way Warren Wiersbe writes about false teachers
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Speaker 1: and deceivers. I quote, the false teachers promised the Colossian
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Speaker 1: believers that they would be in the know if they
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Speaker 1: accepted these new doctrines. Words like knowledge, wisdom, understanding were
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Speaker 1: a part of the religious vocabulary. So Paul used these
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Speaker 1: words in his prayer. Satan is so deceptive, writes Wiersbe.
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Speaker 1: He likes to borrow the Christian vocabulary, but he does
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Speaker 1: not use the Christian dictionary. That's a good insight. I
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Speaker 1: wish I'd have had that insight, but Wiersbe had it.
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Speaker 1: They use a great vocabulary, sounds just like what we teach,
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Speaker 1: but they've got a different dictionary. Here's our dictionary. It's
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Speaker 1: called the Bible. But their dictionary would be half a
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Speaker 1: verse here, a word or two there, as they build
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Speaker 1: their false doctrine. Wiersbe concludes, long before the false teachers
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Speaker 1: had adopted these terms, the words had been in the
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Speaker 1: Christian vocabulary. You will observe when you read false teachers
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Speaker 1: or when you hear them, You will hear words that
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Speaker 1: sound a lot like your religious upbringing. Well, sure. That attraction.
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Speaker 1: But they're teaching you a whole new nomenclature. And they're
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Speaker 1: telling you, really, this is deeper than you will ever
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Speaker 1: get if you limit your knowledge and understanding to the
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Speaker 1: to the Bible. In the first century, and the second
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Speaker 1: century as well, these came to be known, these false teachers,
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Speaker 1: as Gnostics, G-N-O-S-T-I-C-S, from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge
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Speaker 1: or to know. And they were promoters of this knowledge
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Speaker 1: that they brought, based on philosophical meanderings, not biblical truth.
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Speaker 1: Keep in mind, verse 9 says, we ask God to
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Speaker 1: give you complete knowledge. So he's praying for the Colossians
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Speaker 1: that they will have discernment to cut through all the
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Speaker 1: deception and realize that they're being led astray by these
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Speaker 1: false teachers. Paul's offer is that they might know the
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Speaker 1: will of God. Knowledge of his will and his prayer
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Speaker 1: is this. That they might know spiritual wisdom and an understanding.
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Speaker 1: How will you know when you have the truth? Get this.
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Speaker 1: Right here in the passage. Just keep reading. Verse 10. Then,
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Speaker 1: see it's carrying on the same thought. Then the way
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Speaker 1: you live... will always honor and please the Lord. That's
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Speaker 1: one proof. Your life is pleasing to the Lord. You're
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Speaker 1: not being led astray. Your life will be marked by
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Speaker 1: a genuine God, Christ-likeness. Your lives will produce every kind
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Speaker 1: of good fruit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, patience, self-control,
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Speaker 1: to name a few of the fruit. And all the
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Speaker 1: while you will grow as you learn to know God
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Speaker 1: better and better. A great checkpoint if you are wondering
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Speaker 1: what you've been reading or who you've been running with
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Speaker 1: is really teaching the truth is to say, is my
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Speaker 1: life a more godly life than it was before? Am
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Speaker 1: I honoring and pleasing the Lord in producing the fruit
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Speaker 1: of the Spirit? Am I more patient? Am I kind?
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Speaker 1: Am I gentle? Am I known for true love? I
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Speaker 1: love it the way Paul just puts his finger on
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Speaker 1: the truth over in chapter 2, verse 10. Take a
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Speaker 1: quick glance at 2.10. This letter can be correlated so
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Speaker 1: well as you can see truth revealed here and there.
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Speaker 1: Look at 2.10. You are complete through your union with Christ,
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Speaker 1: who is the head over every ruler and authority. You've
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Speaker 1: got it all in Christ. If you're complete in Christ,
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Speaker 1: there's nothing lacking. Now there's room to grow and there
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Speaker 1: are things to learn, of course, but you'll not have
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Speaker 1: truth kept from you if you keep following Christ. So
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Speaker 1: here's a good model to follow. Since it's a prayer
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Speaker 1: to remember and to model, let me suggest this. Don't
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Speaker 1: just pray for someone else's health or success or material
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Speaker 1: needs or social connections or relationships. Pray for these specific
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Speaker 1: things that are mentioned right here. Because I need to
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Speaker 1: warn you, ours is a culture of deception. You who
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Speaker 1: are discerning hardly need to be told that. At every turn,
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Speaker 1: there is someone inviting you to come and to learn
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Speaker 1: another way of thinking about life. And before long, you
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Speaker 1: wind up feeling like you're a level above others and
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Speaker 1: you start criticizing other solid ministries and good, sound biblical teachers.
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Speaker 1: I like the way Kent Hughes put it. If your
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Speaker 1: doctrine lifts you so high that your feet cannot reach
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Speaker 1: the ground, it is false doctrine you're following. Our doctrine
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Speaker 1: ought to keep us firmly fixed on planet Earth, aware
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Speaker 1: of our world and in touch. See again, verse 10.
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Speaker 1: The way you live will honor and please the Lord.
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Speaker 1: Your lives will produce every kind of good fruit and
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Speaker 1: you will grow as you learn of God and learn
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Speaker 1: and come to know him better and better. Can I
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Speaker 1: give you a couple or three tips about false teachers?
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Speaker 1: I'm going to warn you here. Here are my warnings.
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Speaker 1: Number one, watch out for any teacher or ministry who
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Speaker 1: encourages exclusivity. We are the exclusive group. Only at this
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Speaker 1: church will you hear the truth. That's a false ministry.
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Speaker 1: Stay away from a place like that. Only here Will
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Speaker 1: you learn what you should hear? It's the old us
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Speaker 1: four and no more. And I'm not sure about you three.
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Speaker 1: It's that suspicious. It's that suspicious spirit. Watch out for
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Speaker 1: people like that. Here's another one. Guard against those who
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Speaker 1: regularly criticize good teachers and reliable ministries. If the one
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Speaker 1: you've been following regularly criticizes sound teachers and strong churches,
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Speaker 1: you're following the wrong individual. Here's the third. If the
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Speaker 1: one you are following promotes himself or herself in any way,
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Speaker 1: you're following the wrong leader. Pride goes before a fall.
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Speaker 1: I've never seen a false teacher who was not self-serving.
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Speaker 1: Often there is a touch of arrogance and unteachability. The
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Speaker 1: Corinthian style of man worship sort of flows over into
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Speaker 1: the cliques that were forming, no doubt, right here in Colossae.
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Speaker 1: And I warn us, lest they begin to form here
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Speaker 1: in the city where we live. By the way, our
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Speaker 1: radio ministry is beginning to reach into other countries. And
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Speaker 1: we've discovered that one of those countries is most concerned
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Speaker 1: now about the cults that have moved in. Because the
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Speaker 1: cults sow an unrest among the people. And they become exclusive.
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Speaker 1: This is just for us. And they often speak against
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Speaker 1: the government of those countries. And on and on I
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Speaker 1: could go. So that's the first part. Pray continually for
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Speaker 1: those you've not met. Here's the second. Verses 11 and 12,
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Speaker 1: pray for their strength. Now, where do I get that?
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Speaker 1: Right in the text. Look for yourself. Verse 11. We
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Speaker 1: also pray that you will be strengthened with all his
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Speaker 1: glorious power. That's the first thing he mentions specifically when
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Speaker 1: he prays For these he's not met. We pray that
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Speaker 1: you will have a strength that's based on God's glorious power.
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Speaker 1: So that you will have all the endurance and patience
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Speaker 1: you need. Part of being strengthened in God's power is
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Speaker 1: cultivating the ability to cultivate endurance and and patience. Let
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Speaker 1: me break those words apart. Endurance is from an interesting
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Speaker 1: Greek word, hupomone, H-U-P-O-M-O-N-E. From hupo means under, mone means
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Speaker 1: to abide. It's the idea of holding up under, bearing
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Speaker 1: up under, and it often has in mind adverse circumstances.
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Speaker 1: As you get strength from the Lord, and I'm praying
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Speaker 1: that you will, you will be able to hold up
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Speaker 1: against adverse circumstances that will come, and invariably they will come.
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Speaker 1: And second, you will be a person of patience. See
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Speaker 1: the word right there in verse 11, that you will
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Speaker 1: have all endurance and patience. This is a long word. Macrothumia.
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Speaker 1: Macro meaning long. Thumia, we get our word thermometer from it.
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Speaker 1: It's the idea of long suffering. Being able to endure
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Speaker 1: long heated seasons. And in this case, macrothumia usually has
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Speaker 1: in mind patients with difficult people. So endurance has in
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Speaker 1: mind adverse circumstances that you'll be able to hold up.
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Speaker 1: And patience has to do with dealing with people that
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Speaker 1: are difficult. And I can testify of the two, the
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Speaker 1: latter is the more difficult. Dealing with adverse circumstances is
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Speaker 1: hard enough. Dealing with difficult, sometimes impossible people is a
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Speaker 1: real drain on your patience. And here he says, may
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Speaker 1: you have the kind of patience that you need. And
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Speaker 1: look at what he adds. May you be filled with joy.
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Speaker 1: Aren't you glad he added that? This is This is wonderful.
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Speaker 1: In the process of dealing with people that are difficult
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Speaker 1: and situations that are adverse, don't get negative. Don't become sour.
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Speaker 1: William Barclay writes it this way as he expands the
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Speaker 1: meaning of patience. Its basic meaning is patience with people.
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Speaker 1: It is the quality of mind and heart which enables
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Speaker 1: us to bear with people with to so bear with
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Speaker 1: people that their unpleasantness and maliciousness and cruelty will never
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Speaker 1: drive us to bitterness, that their unteachableness will never drive
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Speaker 1: us to despair, that their folly will never drive us
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Speaker 1: to irritation, and that their unloveliness will never alter our love.
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Speaker 1: The Christian's fortitude in events and patience with people must
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Speaker 1: be indestructible. That's the kind of fortitude we are to
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Speaker 1: pray for others. And while we're at it, pray for
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Speaker 1: it for ourselves, that they might be filled with joy.
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Speaker 1: And there's one more, always thanking the Father. By the way,
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Speaker 1: this seemed like a long sentence, doesn't it? I mean,
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Speaker 1: from the start, I've already taken a breath. You'll be
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Speaker 1: interested to know that In the Greek language, this one
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Speaker 1: sentence that starts at verse 9 goes through 218. It's
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Speaker 1: 218 words before there's a period. That's what I call
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Speaker 1: a sentence. This baby is a long sentence, and we're
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Speaker 1: stopping in the middle of his sentence, even though there's
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Speaker 1: a period that appears in the English text. He's going
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Speaker 1: on and on. Now he's adding an attitude of gratitude.
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Speaker 1: How important. You begin to see why this is such
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Speaker 1: a great prayer to remember and to model. Keep it
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Speaker 1: in mind, always thanking the Father with an attitude of
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Speaker 1: gratitude in adverse circumstances and among difficult people. Well, how
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Speaker 1: can you keep doing that? How come you don't start
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Speaker 1: to wear thin? Well, to quote Dr. John Mitchell, Read
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Speaker 1: your Bible repeatedly. When you read your Bible, you will
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Speaker 1: begin to see it repeatedly refers to the same things.
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Speaker 1: And what is that? Look at verse 12 as it continues.
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Speaker 1: Always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share
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Speaker 1: in the inheritance that belongs to his people who live
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Speaker 1: in the light. That's how there can be joy. You've
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Speaker 1: inherited the light. And you're surrounded by people that live
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Speaker 1: in darkness. Haven't you noticed? Look at the faces of
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Speaker 1: all the newscasters. They look like Eeyore. Well, we have
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Speaker 1: more bad news today about the president and about his
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Speaker 1: cabinet and about what's going on in decisions that are
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Speaker 1: being made in the White House. Oh, really? Yeah, now
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Speaker 1: on top of that, we have bad weather. We need
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Speaker 1: a report that's coming from the northeast and it's going
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Speaker 1: to spread down. And while we're there, we've got a
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Speaker 1: bad plague that's come in. There's a mosquito on the loose.
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Speaker 1: You start going, oh, man, I'm surrounded by all this
28:35
Speaker 1: bad news. Why do you respond like that? You're an
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Speaker 1: inheritor of the light. Some of you know Fox News
28:45
Speaker 1: better than you know your Bible. You know the people
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Speaker 1: that bring the broadcast better than you know the people
28:52
Speaker 1: of the scriptures. No wonder you're so disheartened. No wonder
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Speaker 1: you're so downcast. I had two different men after the
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Speaker 1: first service this morning come in tears. I asked their permission.
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Speaker 1: I don't know their names, so they said, you're sure,
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Speaker 1: you're free to tell. One man says, we just discovered
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Speaker 1: that my wife has MS. And on top of that,
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Speaker 1: any day now, I'm going to lose my job. He said,
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Speaker 1: I had no idea when I dressed for church this
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Speaker 1: morning that I'd be hearing what you're talking about. He said,
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Speaker 1: you are talking to me. The other man had another
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Speaker 1: story that was just as sad. And he could hardly
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Speaker 1: finish his sentence. As he said to me, I wondered
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Speaker 1: when I was getting up this morning, why even bother
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Speaker 1: to go to church? What could there possibly be that
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Speaker 1: could lift my head above the water of where I am?
29:54
Speaker 1: And he described it, and he just started to sob.
29:58
Speaker 1: He said, I had no idea that the Bible would
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Speaker 1: address something like that. This is real stuff, folks. This
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Speaker 1: is real life. This isn't some kind of saintly, pious
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Speaker 1: prayer that you learn and then you quote it. I've
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Speaker 1: got a good friend who told me when he heard
30:20
Speaker 1: I was going to teach Colossians, he said, oh, it's
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Speaker 1: my favorite book. In fact, he said, You will come across,
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Speaker 1: as you teach it, a prayer, chapter 1, verses 9
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Speaker 1: to 14. We're there now. This was before I'd started.
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Speaker 1: He said, I want you to know, Chuck, I pray
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Speaker 1: that for you. When I go through that, I can
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Speaker 1: just hear him saying that. What a great thing to read.
30:41
Speaker 1: I'm reading his prayer list on my behalf. To know
30:47
Speaker 1: that he cares enough that he would pray like this.
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Speaker 1: When you begin to pray like this, you'll begin to
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Speaker 1: operate more in the light. And the darkness will not
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Speaker 1: enshroud you. And deepen and darken your spirit. That you
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Speaker 1: may be filled with joy. Filled with joy. With an
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Speaker 1: attitude of gratitude. Always thanking the Father since he has
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Speaker 1: enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to
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Speaker 1: his people who live in the light. Now some of
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Speaker 1: you read that and you think that's what's going to
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Speaker 1: be in heaven. Stop. That has nothing to do with heaven.
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Speaker 1: It's now. We are complete in Christ. And with Christ
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Speaker 1: you get all of this. We are those who have
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Speaker 1: inherited and now live in the light. We live in it.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't say we will live in it. We now
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Speaker 1: live in it. This is for us. And then that
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Speaker 1: little connective form. explains what we have just read. It says,
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Speaker 1: in effect, because, or let me explain, 13 and 14
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Speaker 1: turns the prayer into praise. Look for yourself. How can
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Speaker 1: I live in the light? Because he has rescued us
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Speaker 1: from the kingdom of darkness. He has done that. He
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Speaker 1: has transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son.
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Speaker 1: What about his son? Oh, he purchased our freedom. He
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Speaker 1: forgave our sins. How great is that? Look at the
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Speaker 1: change in pronouns from you and you and you all
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Speaker 1: the way through verses 9 through 12. He now says us.
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Speaker 1: He's rescued us. So Paul's in the group. Epaphras is
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Speaker 1: in the group. All of us in the room who
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Speaker 1: know the Lord Jesus Christ. have been rescued from the
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Speaker 1: kingdom of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his
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Speaker 1: dear son. He's purchased our freedom. You enslaved to some addiction?
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Speaker 1: You've been emancipated. You have been emancipated. Maybe you didn't
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Speaker 1: even know it. Like so many of the slaves toward
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Speaker 1: the end of the Civil War, the emancipation from the
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Speaker 1: president came years before it was enacted. Or before they
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Speaker 1: acted on it. I mean, you think the plantation owners
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Speaker 1: wanted those slaves to know they were emancipated? Not on
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Speaker 1: your life. Well, there are people who will keep you
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Speaker 1: under bondage. And Paul is setting us free. He said, well,
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Speaker 1: we've been rescued. We've been emancipated. We've been given our freedom.
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Speaker 1: It's been purchased for us. Where? On the cross. Where
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Speaker 1: he who knew no sin became sin on our behalf
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Speaker 1: that we might He made the righteousness of God in him.
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Speaker 1: You have the righteousness of God. You are, chapter 2,
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Speaker 1: verse 10, complete in Christ. He forgave your sins. I'm
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Speaker 1: going to surprise you with a statement. Every once in
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Speaker 1: a while I like doing that. You don't have to sin.
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Speaker 1: You sin because you want to. You like to. There's
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Speaker 1: a good friend of mine, Leroy, Iams with the Navigators
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Speaker 1: for years used to say, we sin because we have
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Speaker 1: a quiet, secret delight in sinning. We love to sin.
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Speaker 1: There's a satisfaction in it. Not all, but in much
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Speaker 1: of it. But you know what? You've been freed from
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Speaker 1: that power. Read Romans 6. You've been delivered from that authority.
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Speaker 1: Sin no longer has reign over you. You choose to sin.
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Speaker 1: But you don't have to if you're in Christ. Now,
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Speaker 1: if you're not in Christ, you can't help it. You're
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Speaker 1: woefully addicted. And you're not freed from it. Even though
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Speaker 1: he has provided this forgiveness, you still operate as though
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Speaker 1: it'll never be true for you. But you must come
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Speaker 1: to Christ. So that you can enjoy this spiritual emancipation. Okay?
35:24
Speaker 1: Let me wrap it up by giving you... Three simple
35:28
Speaker 1: tips as it relates to praying for others. Let's kind
35:33
Speaker 1: of wrap it up in these simple words that I
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Speaker 1: hope you won't forget. First, let's be faithful. Let's be faithful.
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Speaker 1: Let's do this continually. Let's be sure that a day
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Speaker 1: doesn't pass without our praying for someone we don't know.
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Speaker 1: Of course, you're going to be praying for people you
35:54
Speaker 1: do know and love. I'm confident you do that But
35:57
Speaker 1: now I'm talking from this passage to pray for those
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Speaker 1: you've never met. Be faithful. Stay at it. Now, here's
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Speaker 1: the second. Let's be specific. Paul has been specific. I
36:16
Speaker 1: pray for your knowledge that you will know the will
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Speaker 1: of God. I pray for your strength, your endurance, your
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Speaker 1: patience through hard times and difficult people. I pray for
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Speaker 1: your joy. I pray for an attitude of gratitude. I
36:30
Speaker 1: pray that you will live as if you are indeed,
36:33
Speaker 1: in fact, free because you are. You've been rescued. Be specific.
36:40
Speaker 1: If there's anything I would love to change in most
36:42
Speaker 1: Christians' prayer, it's to get rid of the cliches. You
36:46
Speaker 1: hear them all the time. Here are a couple of them.
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Speaker 1: Dear Lord, lead, guide, and direct us. You've already said lead.
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Speaker 1: So you don't need to add guide or direct. They're
36:59
Speaker 1: the same thing. But you learn in Sunday school to lead, guide,
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Speaker 1: and direct when you pray. Get rid of one of
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Speaker 1: the three and make a difference. Lord, guide us. And
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Speaker 1: then name the way you need him to guide you specifically.
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Speaker 1: Here's another one. Bless us. What in the world does
37:19
Speaker 1: that mean? Or bless the missionaries. Could you name something specific?
37:26
Speaker 1: How about Frank and Shirley who are struggling to learn
37:29
Speaker 1: the language where they are? And I pray that you'll
37:32
Speaker 1: give them facility in learning that language that is difficult
37:36
Speaker 1: for them. I pray right now for Bill and Marsha's
37:41
Speaker 1: two children that are sick. And my heart goes out
37:44
Speaker 1: to them. And I pray that you would somehow intervene
37:48
Speaker 1: and bring strength and hope and healing beyond the sick.
37:54
Speaker 1: I pray, Lord, for my son who's away at college.
37:59
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about the influence that's going on around him,
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Speaker 1: and I'm not there to talk about it with him.
38:05
Speaker 1: And I know that he's at a distance, and I
38:09
Speaker 1: don't know what temptations he's facing. I pray that you'd
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Speaker 1: give him strength to withstand. That's specific prayer. I love
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Speaker 1: the way the late Howie Hendricks used to put it.
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Speaker 1: Guard against the slimy ooze of indefiniteness. I think God
38:40
Speaker 1: must lean over heaven and go, how? How exactly would
38:44
Speaker 1: you like to be blessed? Tell me. I answer specific prayers.
38:51
Speaker 1: Blessed says nothing. Unless, of course, you've named it. Let's
38:58
Speaker 1: be specific when we pray. Here's a third. Let's be sure.
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Speaker 1: Let's be sure. See the change in pronouns? He's rescued us.
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Speaker 1: He's transferred us. I'm confident of that. Paul writes rescued, transferred.
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Speaker 1: He's freed us. He's forgiven us. I... You don't have
39:20
Speaker 1: to pray to be forgiven. You're forgiven. Act like it.
39:27
Speaker 1: You don't have to say, Lord, free me from this sin. sin.
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Speaker 1: You're freed from it. Better prayer would be, Lord, keep
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Speaker 1: me from loving it. From like doing it. Guard me, Lord,
39:44
Speaker 1: because I'm given to anger and when I'm angry, I'm
39:47
Speaker 1: enraged and I lose control and Lord, I'm not above
39:52
Speaker 1: doing something dangerous. Stop that in me, Lord. Let's pray
40:01
Speaker 1: with assurance. Paul is praying and he includes himself and
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Speaker 1: I urge you to pray and not to forget yourself.
40:09
Speaker 1: Let me say one final word. I mean it. Some
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Speaker 1: of you are not here in this passage because you've
40:18
Speaker 1: never trusted Christ. Well, I know, I know you're not
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Speaker 1: out killing people. I know you're paying your taxes. Well,
40:25
Speaker 1: most of them. And you're getting along as best you can.
40:29
Speaker 1: And you're a good neighbor. I know that. You're holding
40:32
Speaker 1: down jobs as best you can. And maybe between jobs,
40:36
Speaker 1: you're trying to be patient and all. But you've never
40:39
Speaker 1: come to the cross. You've never trusted Jesus. Just a
40:46
Speaker 1: simple prayer, Lord God, I acknowledge that I am distant
40:51
Speaker 1: from you. I hang around Christians, but I'm not one.
40:59
Speaker 1: I've even learned the language of some, but I'm a
41:04
Speaker 1: long ways from your dictionary. You and I are light
41:08
Speaker 1: years apart, and I want to be close. I want
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Speaker 1: to be in your family. So right now, I claim
41:14
Speaker 1: Christ as my Savior. I ask you to make that
41:19
Speaker 1: happen right now. Let's bow together. Will you please do
41:23
Speaker 1: that with me? Now you talk about praying for others.
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Speaker 1: Pray for someone who may be listening right now who
41:31
Speaker 1: doesn't know Christ. Offer that prayer. And I join my
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Speaker 1: brothers and sisters today, dear Father, and I ask that
41:44
Speaker 1: you would, by your grace, Reach into the heart of
41:50
Speaker 1: those who have been disillusioned. Some have even been turned
41:57
Speaker 1: off by toxic religion. Others have become so self-centered that
42:05
Speaker 1: they're not even aware of how arrogant they've become. And
42:09
Speaker 1: I pray that you'd break them. Break them down. Bring
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Speaker 1: them to their knees. Make them restless through the night.
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Speaker 1: Take away their sleep. Trouble them with the reality that
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Speaker 1: they are distant from you so that they might come
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Speaker 1: to realize that there is hope only in the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And give us, our Father, we pray, through
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Speaker 1: all of this, a joy that is contagious. Deliver us
42:43
Speaker 1: from that long-faced, pious, nonsensical look of religion. so that
42:51
Speaker 1: we become for you great advertisements of the real thing
42:58
Speaker 1: in a world that has lost its way. Speak to
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Speaker 1: specific hearts today in this message that individuals may trust
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Speaker 1: in your Son as Savior. I ask it in the
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Speaker 1: name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And everybody sit. Amen. Amen.
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43:30
Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.