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Well, another one of those heart-to-heart talks today,

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you and I are in a series of messages

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regarding the greatest sermon that was ever preached.

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No man can take issue with it.

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You can be dead sure the one who gave that sermon

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had his theology straight.

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Because the sermon was preached by the one

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who has the highest authority in heaven and earth,

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the very son of the living God.

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Oh, this, believe me, is the world's masterpiece.

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No sermon ever preached

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has been comparable to the sermon that was preached that day

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by the Son of God.

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When he preached it, his hearers were just a group

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of folks sitting on the side of a hill.

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But when he preached it, he was looking down

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through a telescope of time to the thousands and tens

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of thousands and thousands upon thousands,

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even including you and including me as he spoke.

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Well, sir, and in it, in this wonderful sermon,

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he taught us how to pray.

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He gave us the pattern for prayer.

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Do you wanna know something?

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I challenge you to go into any religious bookstore

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and you will find that on the Shellsite bookstore,

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you'll find more books having been written on prayer

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than any other subject.

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Literally volumes had been written on prayer.

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There had been thousands of sermons preached

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on the subject of prayer.

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And yet, when you come to the final analysis,

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when it's all boiled down,

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Jesus has given us the pattern for prayer in various ways.

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The pattern for prayer in just the few words.

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So simple.

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I dare say if I had a youngster,

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a very small child sitting here beside me,

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I could take the very words that Jesus took regarding prayer

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and teach that little child how to pray.

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He said simple.

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The thing that amazes me is that human beings

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just cannot accept simplicity.

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They want something hard.

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If it was some great thing, some mighty struggle,

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something that was intricate regarding prayer,

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and you read all of these volumes on prayer

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and after you've finished them all,

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you're so confused, you don't know anymore.

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In fact, you know less about prayer than when you began.

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And it's so simple.

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Turn, if you will please, to the sixth chapter of Mary.

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And may I remind you again of the heart to heart talk

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that we had in a previous broadcast.

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For preceding the teaching of how to pray,

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Jesus gave us the three great means of grace.

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Giving, prayer, and fasting.

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All of this is in the sermon.

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All of this he gave preceding the pattern of how to pray.

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You heard me make the statement before.

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I repeated the proof of our human relationship to God

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in this world here and now, today, this very hour.

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The proof of our human relationship this hour

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to God is in our giving.

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Because there's something that's very fundamental.

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There's something peculiar about love.

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Love is something you do.

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Love is something you give.

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Love is something you do.

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Love is something you give.

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Love is outgoing.

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I'm not merely talking now about the financial.

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I'm not talking about the material.

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The material will be included,

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will be a part of this giving.

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You cannot love God.

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You cannot love the Lord Jesus Christ without giving,

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and the only way that you can give is yourself.

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And he'll not be satisfied with just a part of you.

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He'll not be satisfied with two thirds of you.

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Oh, I'll tell you something.

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I've argued this thing with him.

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I tried to make him content with three fourths of me.

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But it just didn't work.

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He wasn't satisfied.

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There's something about it.

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I never received heaven's best.

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I never completely enjoyed the fullness of his love.

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The completeness of his blessing and his favor

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until I sold out to him, locked, stocked, and barrowed.

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Everything.

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100%.

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And it's just like that.

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And the power that creates the giving is prayer.

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And the condition that makes prayer powerful

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is that of fasting.

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Therefore, you cannot separate any one of these

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from the other.

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And in the three of them, the combination of these three,

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you have the three great means of grace.

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Now, he's giving all of this

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before he gives us the pattern of prayer.

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The last thing that he gave before teaching us how to pray

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was the real place of prayer.

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The secret place.

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With the door closed.

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In other words, the public is out.

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No one is hearing you.

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It's just the two of you.

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You're not praying to be heard of anyone else

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but the master himself.

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The position of prayer is not stated

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because it makes no difference whether you're kneeling,

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whether you're lying down, whether you're standing,

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whether you're standing.

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No, that is not all important.

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It's that secret place, just the two of you.

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Then he goes one step further

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before telling us how to pray.

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And that was the emphasis put on the simplicity of pray.

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How often you've heard me say

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that it isn't the length of one's prayer,

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it isn't how loudly one prays,

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it isn't the beautiful words that one speaks.

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You know, sometimes I sit and listen to some book as they pray

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and they're so unnatural when it comes to the talking to God.

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Oh, my word.

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If that same person would stand before me

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and in conversation talk to me as I've heard them talk to God,

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I would almost feel insulted.

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They're so unnatural.

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I'd look at them and say,

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are you all right? Are you sure you feel well?

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Why, this isn't you at all.

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Why, Mary, do you know me?

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Am I here? This is you.

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They are just that unnatural

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when they approach the throne of God.

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Why, bless you, you're talking to someone when you pray

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who knows you better than you know yourself.

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He knows every detail of your life.

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It's the easiest thing in the world

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to talk to somebody who knows all about you.

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Be simple in conversing with him.

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He understands.

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That's why he says when you pray,

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oh, not with vain repetition.

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No.

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When you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do,

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for they think that they shall be heard

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for their much speaking.

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But when you come in my presence,

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just talk to me.

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It isn't a matter of saying prayers.

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It's a matter of conversing with him,

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an intelligent God

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who will return the conversation,

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speaking intelligently to you and through you.

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All right?

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I left you with the first six words

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of the pattern that Jesus gave us

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when it comes to the subject of how to pray.

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After this manner, therefore, pray you,

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our Father who art in heaven.

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If you really learn to pray the first six words,

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you need go no further.

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And when he said who art in heaven,

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it was not merely for giving the location of the Father,

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but reminding you of the perfection

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of this precious heavenly Father.

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Do you want to know something?

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If somehow the Spirit could make this real to your heart,

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if you could understand the complete perfection,

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the absolute perfection of your heavenly Father,

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you would never again, so long as you live, ever

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ask the reason why

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regarding his guidance, his dealings with you.

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Every time you look up through bitter tears

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and ask the question why,

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you question his intelligence,

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you question his wisdom,

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you question his power, you question his authority,

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you question his perfection.

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He is absolute wisdom, he is absolute perfection.

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Know that.

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And I still contend and I believe it

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with every atom of my being

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that if you are completely surrendered unto him,

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if you have surrendered body, soul and spirit,

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not only a part of you, but all of you,

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and living in his perfect will,

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and you know that you're living up to all the light

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that you have regarding spiritual things,

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that nothing, absolutely nothing can come into your life,

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nothing can touch you,

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but what he allows and he permits.

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And knowing that he is perfect wisdom,

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that he is perfect knowledge,

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knowing that he can never make a mistake,

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it is impossible for our heavenly Father to make a mistake.

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Oh, I know there have been times when,

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years ago I questioned it and I thought maybe he got off

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a little bit in his dealings with me.

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I wondered if maybe, if just maybe,

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well, if maybe he might have made a slight mistake,

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but he cannot make a mistake

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because he is absolute perfection.

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Therefore, we are to accept that which comes into our lives

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if we're living in his perfect will.

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Now, there is a portion of the Word of God

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that is abused by most people.

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It's used probably more than most any other scripture.

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All things work together for good,

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to those who love the Lord,

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who are living their life in his perfect will.

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My friend, that promise is only for those

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who are living in his will.

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For those who've surrendered everything to him.

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I am still a free moral agent,

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even though I'm a minister of the gospel.

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I am still free to do as I please.

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I can literally take myself out of the will of God.

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I can walk out.

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I am free to deliberately live contrary

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to that which I know spiritually.

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And should I deliberately take myself out of God's will,

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go against God's plan,

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live according to my own will,

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my own selfish desires,

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I can no longer claim that promise

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that all things will work together for good for me.

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You can't do it.

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You can not do it.

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You can only claim that promise.

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If you as a son, and remember something,

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as a son, always the father has the right of command.

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Therefore, you will surrender your will to the will of God.

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Oh, this relationship is marvelous between father and son.

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That's the reason I remind you again,

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that if you fully understand the meaning

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of the first six words of this prayer,

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you don't have to go any further.

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That relationship of son and father, a perfect father,

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having confidence in him completely,

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in everything he does, never questioning.

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As a son, your will is surrendered to his will.

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Watch it, and that's one of the hardest things in the world to do.

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Had you completely surrendered your will

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to the will of the father,

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is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?

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Have you got to the place where you can say,

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none of self, let self be crucified?

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Then, my friend, you have the right to claim that promise

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that all things work together for your good.

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All things, regardless of what happens to you,

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nothing can touch you, your life, or anything that concerns you,

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but what your heavenly father permits and allows.

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Amen.