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031 - Thirtieth Day The Unity of the Spirit · Spirit of Christ

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  Speaker 1: Thirtieth Day of the Spirit of Christ by Andrew Murray.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Thirtieth day.
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  Speaker 1: The Unity of the Spirit that you walk with all
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  Speaker 1: lowliness and meekness, with a long suffering forbearing one another
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  Speaker 1: in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body
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  Speaker 1: and one Spirit Ephesians four, Verses one to four. Now
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  Speaker 1: there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. All
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  Speaker 1: these worketh one, and the same Spirit, dividing to each
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  Speaker 1: one severally even as he will. For in one spirit
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  Speaker 1: were we all baptized into one body, and were all
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  Speaker 1: made to drink of one spirit Firs. Corinthians twelve, Verses four, eleven,
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  Speaker 1: and thirteen. We know how in the first three chapters
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  Speaker 1: of the year Ephesians Paul had set forth the glory
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  Speaker 1: of Christ Jesus as the head of the Church, and
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  Speaker 1: the glory of God's grace in the Church as the
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  Speaker 1: body of Christ in dwelt by the Holy Spirit, growing
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  Speaker 1: up into an habitation of God through the Spirit, and
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  Speaker 1: destined to be filled with all the fullness of God.
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  Speaker 1: Having thus lifted the believer to his true place in
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  Speaker 1: the heaven lies, with his life hid in Christ, he
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  Speaker 1: comes with him down to his life in the earthlies,
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  Speaker 1: and in the second half of the epistle teaches how
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  Speaker 1: he is to walk worthy of his calling, and the
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  Speaker 1: very first lesson he has to give in regard to
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  Speaker 1: this life and walk on earth. Ephesians four one to
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  Speaker 1: four rests on the foundation truth that the Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: has united him not only to Christ in Heaven, but
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  Speaker 1: to Christ's Body on earth. The Spirit dwells not only
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  Speaker 1: in Christ in heaven and in the believer on earth,
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  Speaker 1: but very specially in Christ's Body with all its members,
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  Speaker 1: And the full healthy action of the Spirit can only
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  Speaker 1: be found where the right relation exists between the individual
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  Speaker 1: and the whole body, as far as he knows or
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  Speaker 1: comes into contact with it. His first care in his
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  Speaker 1: holy walk must be therefore to give diligence that the
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  Speaker 1: unity of the Spirit be maintained intact. Worth this unity
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  Speaker 1: of the one Spirit and one body fully acknowledged, the
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  Speaker 1: cardinal virtue of the Christian life would be lowliness and
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  Speaker 1: beatness Verses two and three, in which each would forget
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  Speaker 1: and give up self for others, and all would forbear
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  Speaker 1: one another in love amid all differences and shortcomings. So
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  Speaker 1: the New Commandment would be kept, and the Spirit of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit of Love, sacrificing itself wholly for others, would
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  Speaker 1: have free scope to do his blessed work. The need
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  Speaker 1: of such teaching wishing. The First Epistle to the Corinthians
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  Speaker 1: remarkably illustrates. In that church, there were abundant operations of
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  Speaker 1: the workings of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit were strikingly manifested, but the graces of the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: were remarkably absent. They understood not how there are diversities
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  Speaker 1: of gifts, but the same Spirit, How amid all difference,
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  Speaker 1: one and the same Spirit divides to each severally as
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  Speaker 1: he will. How all had been baptized in one spirit
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  Speaker 1: into one body, and all made to drink of one spirit.
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  Speaker 1: They knew not the more excellent way, and that the
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  Speaker 1: chief of all the gifts of the Spirit is the
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  Speaker 1: love that seeketh not its own, and only finds its
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  Speaker 1: life and its happiness in others. To each believer who
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  Speaker 1: would fully yield himself to the leading of the Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: as well as to the Church as a whole in
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  Speaker 1: its longings for the experience in power of all that
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  Speaker 1: the end dwelling Spirit implies. The unity of the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: is a truth fraught with rich blessing. In previous writings
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  Speaker 1: I have more than once made use of the expression
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  Speaker 1: of Pastor Stockmayer. Have a deep reverence for the work
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  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit within thee that injunction needs as
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  Speaker 1: its complement a second one, have a deep reverence for
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  Speaker 1: the work of the Holy Spirit in thy brother. This
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  Speaker 1: is no easy thing. Even Christians, in other respects advanced
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  Speaker 1: often fail here. The cause is not difficult to discover.
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  Speaker 1: In our books on education, we are taught that the
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  Speaker 1: faculty of discrimination, the observing of differences, is one of
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  Speaker 1: the earliest to be developed in children. The power of combination,
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  Speaker 1: or the observing of the harmony that exists amid apparent diversity,
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  Speaker 1: is a higher one, and comes later as the power
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  Speaker 1: of classification. In its highest action, it is only found
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  Speaker 1: in true genius. The lesson finds most striking exemplification in
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  Speaker 1: the Christian life and church. It needs but little grace
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  Speaker 1: to know where we differ from other Christians or churches,
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  Speaker 1: to contend for our views, or to judge their errors
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  Speaker 1: in doctrine or conduct. But this indeed is grace. Where
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  Speaker 1: a mid conduct that tries or grieves us, or teaching
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  Speaker 1: that appears to us unscriptural or hurtful, we always give
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  Speaker 1: the unity of the Spirit the first place, and have
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  Speaker 1: face in the power of love to maintain the living
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  Speaker 1: union amid outward separation. Keep the unity of the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: Such is God's command to every believer. It is the
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  Speaker 1: new commandment to love one another in a new shape,
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  Speaker 1: tracing the love to the spirit in which it has
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  Speaker 1: its life. If you would obey the commandment, note carefully
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  Speaker 1: that it is the unity of the Spirit. There is
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  Speaker 1: a unionity of creed or custom, of church, or choice,
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  Speaker 1: in which the bond is more of the flesh than
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  Speaker 1: of the spirit. Would you keep the unity of the spirit,
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  Speaker 1: Remember the following things. Seek to know that in thyself
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  Speaker 1: in which the unity is to find its power of
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  Speaker 1: attachment and of victory. There is much in thee that
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  Speaker 1: is of self and of the flesh, and that can
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  Speaker 1: take part in a unity that is of this earth,
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  Speaker 1: that that will greatly hinder the unity of the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: Confess that it is in no power or love of
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  Speaker 1: thine own that thou canst love all that is of
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  Speaker 1: thyself is selfish and reaches not to the true unity
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  Speaker 1: of the Spirit. Be very humble in the thought that
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  Speaker 1: it is only what is of God in THEE that
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  Speaker 1: can ever unite with what appears displeasing to thyself. Be
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  Speaker 1: very joyful in the thought that there is, indeed that
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  Speaker 1: in THEE which can conquer self and love even what
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  Speaker 1: seems unloving. Study also to know and prize highly that
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  Speaker 1: in thy brother with which thou art to be united,
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  Speaker 1: as in thyself, so there is in him but a
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  Speaker 1: little beginning the hidden seed of the divine life, surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by much that is yet carnal, and often is very
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  Speaker 1: trying and displeasing. It needs a heart very humble in
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  Speaker 1: the knowledge of how unworthy thou thyself art, and very
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  Speaker 1: loving in the readiness to excuse thy brother, for so
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  Speaker 1: did Jesus in the Last Night. The spirit, indeed is willing,
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  Speaker 1: but the flesh is weak to look persistently at what
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  Speaker 1: there is in the Brother of the Image and Spirit
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  Speaker 1: of the Father. Estimates him not by what he is
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  Speaker 1: in himself, but by what he is in Christ. And
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  Speaker 1: as thou feelest, how the same life and spirit which
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  Speaker 1: thou owest to free grace is in him too. The
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  Speaker 1: unity of the Spirit will triumph over the difference and
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  Speaker 1: dislike of the flesh. The spirit in THEE. Acknowledging and
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  Speaker 1: meeting the spirit in thy brother will bind THEE in
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  Speaker 1: the unity of a life that is from above. Keep
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  Speaker 1: this unity of the Spirit in the active exercise of fellowship.
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  Speaker 1: The bond between the members of my body is most
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  Speaker 1: living and real, maintained by the circulation of the blood
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  Speaker 1: and the life it carries in one spirit. We were
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  Speaker 1: all baptized into one body. There is one body and
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  Speaker 1: one spirit. The inner union of life must find expression
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  Speaker 1: and be strengthened in the manifested communion of love. Cultivate intercourse.
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  Speaker 1: Not only would those who are of one way of
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  Speaker 1: thinking and worshiping with thyself, lest the unity be more
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  Speaker 1: in the flesh than the spirit. Study in all thy
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  Speaker 1: thoughts and judgments of other believers, to exercise the love
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  Speaker 1: that thinketh no evil. Never say an unkind word of
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  Speaker 1: a child of God as little as of others. Love
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  Speaker 1: every believer not for the sake of what in him
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  Speaker 1: is in sympathy with THEE or pleasing to THEE, but
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  Speaker 1: for the sake of the Spirit of the Father, which
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  Speaker 1: there is in Him. Give thyself expressly and of set purpose,
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  Speaker 1: to love and labor for God's children within thy reach, who,
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  Speaker 1: through ignorance or feebleness or waywardness, know not that they
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  Speaker 1: have the Spirit or are grieving him. The work of
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit is to build up an habitation for God.
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  Speaker 1: Yield thyself to the Spirit in thee to do the work.
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  Speaker 1: Recognize thy dependence upon the fellowship of the Spirit in
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  Speaker 1: thy brother, and his dependence upon Thee. And seek thy
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  Speaker 1: growth and his in the unity of love. Take thy
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  Speaker 1: part in the united intercession that rises up to God
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  Speaker 1: for the unity of his Church. Take up and continue
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  Speaker 1: the intercession of the Great High Priest for all who
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  Speaker 1: believe that they ma may be one. The Church is
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  Speaker 1: one in the life of Christ and the love of
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit. It is alas not one in the manifested
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  Speaker 1: unity of the Spirit. Hence the need of the command
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  Speaker 1: keep the unity. Plead with God for the mighty workings
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  Speaker 1: of His Spirit in all lands and churches and circles
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  Speaker 1: of believers. When the tide is low, each little pool
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  Speaker 1: along the shore, with its inhabitants is separated from the
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  Speaker 1: other by a rocky barrier. As the tide rises, the
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  Speaker 1: barriers are flooded over, and all meet in one great ocean.
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  Speaker 1: So it will be with the Church of Christ, as
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit of God comes according to the promise, as
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  Speaker 1: floods upon the dry ground, each will know the power
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  Speaker 1: in himself and in others, and self disappear as the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit is known and honored. And how is this wondrous
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  Speaker 1: change to be brought about? And the time hastened? That
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  Speaker 1: the prayer be fulfilled? That they may all be one,
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  Speaker 1: that the world may know that thou hast sent me
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  Speaker 1: and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Let
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  Speaker 1: each of us begin with himself. Resolve even now, beloved
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  Speaker 1: child of God, that this shall be the one mark
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  Speaker 1: of your life, the proof of your sonship, the having
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  Speaker 1: and knowing the indwelling Spirit. If you are to unite
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  Speaker 1: not with what pleases you or is in harmony with
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  Speaker 1: your way of thinking and acting, but with what the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit in you sees and seeks in others, you must
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  Speaker 1: have given yourself entirely up to his way of thinking
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  Speaker 1: and acting. And if you are to do this, he
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  Speaker 1: must have the mastery of your whole being. You need
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  Speaker 1: to abide in the living and never ceasing consciousness, that
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  Speaker 1: He dwelleth within you. You need to pray unceasingly that
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  Speaker 1: the Father may grant you, according to the riches of
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  Speaker 1: His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit
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  Speaker 1: in the inner man. It is in the faith of
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  Speaker 1: the Triune God, the Father giving the Spirit in the
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  Speaker 1: name of the Son, and the Spirit dwelling within you.
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  Speaker 1: It is in this faith brought into adoring exercise at
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  Speaker 1: the foot school of God's throne. It is in direct
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  Speaker 1: contact and fellowship with the Father and the Son, that
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit will take full possession and pervade your entire being.
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  Speaker 1: The fuller his dwelling and the mightier his working is,
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  Speaker 1: the more truly spiritual your being becomes, the more will
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  Speaker 1: self sink away, and the Spirit of Christ use you
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  Speaker 1: in building up and binding together believers into an habitation
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  Speaker 1: of God. Christ's spirit will be in you, the holy anointing,
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  Speaker 1: the oil of consecration, to set you apart and fit
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  Speaker 1: you to be as Christ was, a messenger of the
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  Speaker 1: Father's love. In the humility and gentleness of daily life,
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  Speaker 1: in the kindliness and forbearance of love amid all the
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  Speaker 1: differences and difficulties in the Church in the warm hearted
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  Speaker 1: sympathy and self sacrifice that goes out to find and
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  Speaker 1: help all who need help. The Spirit in you will
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  Speaker 1: prove that He belongs to all the members of the
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  Speaker 1: body as much as to you, and that through you
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  Speaker 1: his love reaches out to all around to teach and
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  Speaker 1: to bless Blessed Lord Jesus. In thy last night on earth,
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  Speaker 1: thy one prayer for thy disciples was, Holy Father, keep
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  Speaker 1: them that they may be one. Thy one desire was
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  Speaker 1: to see them a united flock, all gathered and kept
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  Speaker 1: together in the one almighty hand of Love, Lord Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Now thou art on the throne, we come to THEE
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  Speaker 1: with the same plea, O Keep us that we may
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  Speaker 1: be one. Pray for us, thou Great High Priest, that
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  Speaker 1: we may be made perfect in one, that the world
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  Speaker 1: may know that the Father hath loved us as he
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  Speaker 1: loved THEE. Blessed Lord, we thank THEE for the tokens
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  Speaker 1: that Thou art wakening in thy church, the desire for
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  Speaker 1: the manifestation to the world of the unity of thy people.
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  Speaker 1: Grant we pray THEE to this end the mighty workings
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  Speaker 1: of thy Holy Spirit. May every believer know the spirit
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  Speaker 1: that is in him and that is in his brother,
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  Speaker 1: and in all lowliness and love. Keep the unity of
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit with those with whom he comes into contact.
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  Speaker 1: May all the leaders and guides of Thy Church be
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  Speaker 1: enlightened from above, that the unity of the Spirit may
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  Speaker 1: be more to them than all human bonds of union
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  Speaker 1: in creed or church order. May all who have put
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  Speaker 1: on the Lord Jesus above all things, put on love,
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  Speaker 1: the bond of perfectness. Lord Jesus, we do beseech thee
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  Speaker 1: draw thy people in united prayer to the footstool of
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  Speaker 1: thy throne in glory. Whence thou givest thy spirit to
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  Speaker 1: reveal Thy presence to each as present in all. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: fill us with thy spirit, and we shall be one,
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  Speaker 1: one spirit and one body, Amen one. The health of
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  Speaker 1: every member, and even every particle of my body, depends
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  Speaker 1: upon the health of the surrounding portion. Either the healing
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  Speaker 1: power of the sound past must expel what is unhealthy,
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  Speaker 1: or this will communicate its disease. I am more dependent
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  Speaker 1: upon my brother than I know. He is more dependent
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  Speaker 1: on me than I know. The spirit I have is
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of Christ dwelling in my brother. Two all
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  Speaker 1: I receive is meant for him too. To keep the
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  Speaker 1: unity of the Spirit in active exercise. To live in
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  Speaker 1: loving fellowship with believers around me is life in the spirit. Two.
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  Speaker 1: That they may be perfect in one. They approach perfection
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  Speaker 1: as they approach unity. Perfection is impossible in a state
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  Speaker 1: of separation. My life is not wholly given to me,
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  Speaker 1: but a part of it is given to my brother
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  Speaker 1: to be available to me when I abide in Him.
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  Speaker 1: From bowan. It has taken thee time and prayer and
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  Speaker 1: faith to know the Spirit of God within THEE. It
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  Speaker 1: will take time and prayer and faith and much love
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  Speaker 1: to know fully the Spirit of God in thy brother. Four.
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  Speaker 1: It is only in the unity of the body that
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit of God can fully and mightily display his power,
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  Speaker 1: either in the Church or to the world. God speaks
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  Speaker 1: to companies of men as he never speaks to solitary
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  Speaker 1: watchers or students. There is a fuller tone, an intenser
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  Speaker 1: fervor in pentecostal revelations than in personal communion. And as
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  Speaker 1: we ourselves know, there is a keener joy in sympathy
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  Speaker 1: than can be realized even in the day volted solitude.
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  Speaker 1: From the paraclet, page two hundred and fifty two end
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  Speaker 1: of thirty stay