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Pray Without Ceasing · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

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[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Since 1938, we've been sharing clear and powerful gospel tracks, completely free, helping churches and individuals bring the Word of God to all the world.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Today, join Evangelist Micah McCurry as we dive into God's Word together.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Stay tuned to learn how you can explore our gospel tracks and resources online.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And now, here's Evangelist Micah McCurry.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Hey friends, welcome back to Bible Tract Echoes.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm Mike and McCurray, your host.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for joining me once again today.
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[SPEAKER_02]: This week on a broadcast, I have greatly enjoyed this because I have learned something.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We've been hearing from a friend of mine.
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[SPEAKER_02]: His name is Matt Payne.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Matt and I, our relationship has been blessed over this past year or year plus really as lords knit our hearts in some areas and one of those areas has been prayer.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You see Matt is one of the assistant pastors at our home church and he's been there for 12, 13, maybe 14 years.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He is wife Heather have just done a wonderful job.
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[SPEAKER_02]: They have a beautiful family.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Their kids are just wonderful, but Matt and I've had the opportunity many
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm so thankful for his heart, not only for service, Matt is a hard worker, he loves the Lord, he loves serving God, but he's also a man of prayer.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I appreciate that he's one of those guys.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We talked about this the other day.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He's one of those guys if I needed something prayed for.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Matt's one of the guys that I would ask, and so it means something when a guy like that preaches on prayer.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It has a little bit more staying power, you know?
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[SPEAKER_02]: And so I appreciate that about Matt, but he's going to talk today.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to finish up a message, a midweek service that he preached not long ago.
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[SPEAKER_02]: at our home church.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I was out of town.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I got to listen to it later on.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And it's so helped to me.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I realized I would have to believe that this might help some of our listeners on Bible Trek Tacos.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I believe in my life.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If I was ranking all of my spiritual abilities, all of the things I'm strong in, all the things I'm the most like Christ in, there wouldn't be many of them, but probably bottom of the list would be prayer.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm talking to Christians oftentimes one of the hardest things for Christians.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's giving money, that's not easy, but it's not the worst thing.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to church, add us on the worst thing.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Just being nice to people, that can be hard, sometimes, but it's not the worst thing.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But prayer, prayer is hard work, isn't it?
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[SPEAKER_02]: It takes time, it takes discipline.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, if we're doing more than now, I lay me down to sleep.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, man.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It gets hard.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But I'm thankful for people like Bruno Matt teaching us a little bit about prayer, and specifically the way he does it, the way he's done it this entire week.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Now don't go anywhere yet.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If you miss the previous episodes, that's all right.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Finish up with us.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And then you can loop back.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe over this weekend or even right after you can go back and find the archive version on a Bible-tracked Echoes podcast.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But I appreciate how Matt has done him.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He has soaked this thing in scripture.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We're talking today specifically as we conclude, praying without ceasing.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm thankful I serve a God that can be bothered, that wants to be bothered with the feelings of our infirmities.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He wants to hear from us all day, every day.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Have you ever had children?
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[SPEAKER_02]: I've got a couple of those, and sometimes they can be bother some, and ask questions, and ask questions, and sometimes you just think, can you just give me a minute?
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm thankful our God is never like that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He literally commands us, and when I say literally, I mean literally not the way the teenagers use it, I mean literally commands us to pray without ceasing.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He wants to hear from us, but we so relegate God into a time-framed only.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We pray to him at church, we pray to him at meals,
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[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you have a time in a place, I'd encourage you to have a time in a place that you spend with God.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe a morning devotion time, wherever that may be.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But I'd also encourage you to pray throughout the day.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's what we're going to hear from by the Matt Paynes.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He concludes this thought.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Listen in to my friend Matt, as he talks about the life of Christ in Christ's prayer life.
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[SPEAKER_02]: In this particular thought, pray without ceasing.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I've just told you earlier, we have our segment at time that we pray in the mornings or in the evenings whenever it is that you do your devotions, and that's wonderful.
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[SPEAKER_01]: A praying throughout the day is what God wants us to do.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's just pray without ceasing.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's difficult.
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[SPEAKER_01]: In my opinion, it is maybe it's easy for you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I have hard time with it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I got thinking about it a little bit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And my wife has been gone on and off for the last two weeks.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Been gone for several days.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And she was back and she was gone for several days.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I noticed?
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[SPEAKER_01]: When I was at work, I did not miss my wife.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You say, you're a jerk.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, I didn't.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When I was at work, I didn't miss her.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But when I got home, I missed her.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know why?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Because when I'm at work, she's not with me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When I'm at work, I'm focusing on work.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When I'm at work, I'm not thinking about what my wife is doing at the moment.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But when I get home, like, oh, where's she at?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Branding the house is different.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Eric.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I miss her because that's where she is, and that's where I'm used to seeing her.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When my wife and I have gotten away, it hasn't even 24 hours.
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[SPEAKER_01]: She's like, I miss the kids.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Always.
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[SPEAKER_01]: How could you miss the kids?
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[SPEAKER_01]: We finally got away from them.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Because she's around them all the time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And that constant presence is not there.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, she misses it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's why we don't pray all the time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: because we've relegated God to a box.
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[SPEAKER_01]: This is when I speak to you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So we don't miss in the rest of the day because we're not used to talking to them in the rest of the day.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Whereas if we could flip that around, my wife spends all that time with the kids all day.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When they're not there, even though that presence is not always appreciated, it's still missed.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That means I'm gonna have to start segmenting my day into time slots.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If you know what, no, I'm gonna stop and pray a little bit here.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need- I don't necessarily need anything right now, but I'm gonna stop and pray anyway.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I've been doing, trying to do.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Start breaking my down and stopping pray for a little bit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Because I want to get my frame of mind to that point where I got out of my mind so I can pray.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I can communicate.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Because you know what happens when things don't go your way, which is the first thing we happen.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We lash out because it's not functioning like it's supposed to.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And if it's not working like it's supposed to, it's garbage and it's junk and it needs to go away and get out of my face,
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[SPEAKER_01]: Even if it's a person, right?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Don't look at me like that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know it's true, but when I'm constantly bringing up the fact that I'm praying throughout the day, man, the first time something doesn't work like it's supposed to, my first reaction is to talk to God because that's who I've been talking to throughout the day, randomly.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Not to just get mad at the situation.
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[SPEAKER_01]: No, I have somebody who has the answer, actually.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I've actually been talking for just a minute ago.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't we just, hey, can you fix this?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Can you give me some wisdom?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Cause I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Asking God, praying constantly.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Look, it's not a easy thing to do, but it's something we should be striving for, making a plan, how can I pray more?
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[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't have a time where you're set aside for you and God are praying alone, start there.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You're not going to pray throughout the day if you don't start with a specific time where I'm praying, where I'm supposed to be with God, and if that's there, hey, how about I'm going to start asking God for some big things?
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[SPEAKER_01]: I was reading in Joshua, or Judges, I don't remember which one Joshua, Caleb asks for that mountain.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I want that mountain.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But if you look at who lived on that mountain, he could have chosen much easier landscape.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He could have chosen much easier battlefield.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He could have chosen easier enemy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But he said, no, God said, I could have whatever I wanted, and I want that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Because that's the biggest mountain with the biggest people in the best land and God said he'd give it to me, so I want it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why not?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Challenge the bus worker's a couple of setters ago.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Make some mountains, and then say, all right, God, you said you answered prayer.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Here's my mountain, conquer it for me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Give me the tools that I need to conquer it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Go with me so that I can accomplish the goal.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If we don't put a mountain in the way, how are we ever going to see God do something great?
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[SPEAKER_01]: How are we ever going to see God do something miraculous?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, I don't think Jesus lied when he told us the disciples, you shall do the same things I have done and you can do greater.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think he was just feeding them a lie and to make them happy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think he meant exactly what he said.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Too many times though, we're on the wrong end of that saying, oh God, we'd never do that for me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we should start abiding in him.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So that way, when we come to him and ask, and ask, and ask, and ask, or I want that amount.
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[SPEAKER_01]: King of the weighted 40 years for that amount.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But even in his 80s, he was still strong enough to conquer the mountain.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He was still strong enough to conquer the mountain and give a part of it away to his daughter's husband.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He did everything he wanted to do.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Simply because he said, Lord, you said, I'm claiming it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I preach just talk about all those promises on Wednesday night.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They're all there, they're all in the book, but oftentimes we don't claim it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's ever had to bud in the rest of what I'm done.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus gave us an example, how to pray and where to pray.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But if you're like me, it's probably the weakest area of your Christian life.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Something I struggle with the most.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Have a time where you get along with God, just to you and him.
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[SPEAKER_01]: and determine to ask God for big things.
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[SPEAKER_01]: As the pianist begins to play, the altar is open, you come, do business with God.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for giving an ear to my friend Matt Payne as he spoke to us.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Now, he ended there with an invitation.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Oftentimes, at our church, we'll have an opportunity for people to reflect and to respond.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And maybe there's something you heard this week on the broadcast.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe there's something you heard even today that caused you to stop.
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[SPEAKER_02]: and ponder.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And wonder, could my prayer life be a little better?
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[SPEAKER_02]: If you're anything like me, when I heard this message that Matt preached to us this week, it caused me to stop and say Lord.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I could talk to you more.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I could talk to you more urgently.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I could talk to you about more things.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Instead of treating some things as too small for God to care about, no, no, he wants to know about everything.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He already does, but he wants us to tell him.
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[SPEAKER_02]: but I failed that so often.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I've said it before this week, I'll say it again, of all of the attributes, all of the spiritual areas that we could grow and I think I could use the most growth in my prayer life.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I endeavor to, I want to.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But how about you?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe there's something that's been said today that would cause you to stop and say, I'd like to spend a few moments in prayer.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And maybe I'll sign off here and the music that plays me out that outro music will come on, and maybe you'd like to spend just a few moments talking to the Lord.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Before the announcer comes on,
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[SPEAKER_02]: and maybe you'd like to ask the Lord to help you with your prayer life.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Jesus left us a great example of prayer.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Let's try to imitate that example, shall we?
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[SPEAKER_02]: As this music plays, will you talk to the Lord for just a moment?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Have a great day for His glory.
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[SPEAKER_02]: God bless.
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[UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much.
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[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
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[SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.