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We're going to have another one of those heart-to-heart talks.

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And it's about something that is most important to all of us.

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We are in the discussion regarding this part of the sermon,

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the greatest sermon ever preached.

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And we can have no fear that the one who was preaching the sermon

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had his theology wrong,

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or that we might be misled in the doctrine.

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For the sermon was preached by the very Son of the Living God.

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It came directly from the lips of God's Son.

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And then we ask you,

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who would be a greater authority?

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Who would know more about prayer,

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and how to pray,

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and how to receive an answer to prayer than the Son of God?

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So just for a few minutes,

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I pray that you'll just empty your thinking

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of all the books that you've ever read on prayer.

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And believe me when I tell you,

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literally thousands and thousands,

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volumes have been written on the subject of prayer.

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Thousands of sermons have been preached on prayer.

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And yet, when Jesus came to the place where He gave us the pattern for prayer,

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in exactly the same way that if one was a cook,

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and that one gave us a recipe for something,

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in exactly the same way Jesus gave us a recipe,

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or a pattern for prayer, how to pray.

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And sit there just for a few minutes,

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just completely empty your mind of all preconceived ideas,

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everything you've ever read,

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everything you've ever heard.

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And just like a little child,

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listen to the words, the teaching of Jesus.

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I'm going to say something right now.

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The Lord has constructed His prayer

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with more skill than ever yet a lawyer has displayed in the casting of a deed.

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If you want to see a masterpiece,

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behold the Master's teaching in this prayer.

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So simple a child can understand.

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Only a few words spoken.

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And really in comparison to the volumes that have been written,

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the many books that have been written.

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And alongside of that which Jesus spoke in giving us the pattern for prayer,

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it's amazing.

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And I repeat, the Lord has constructed this prayer with more skill

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than any lawyer has displayed in the casting of a deed.

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We're coming now to that part of the prayer

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that He has taught us to pray in,

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forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them the trespass against us.

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And this clause is the turning point of the prayer.

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It's right in the middle of the prayer.

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And right here these words, this clause,

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is the turning point of the entire prayer.

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Stop for just a few minutes.

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We're going to go back for just a second and I want you to notice something.

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Jesus has so arranged this marvelous pattern for prayer

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and that's exactly what it is. It is not His prayer.

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We refer to it as the Lord's prayer. Really it isn't.

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It is the prayer that Jesus taught you and taught me to pray.

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And Jesus has so arranged this marvelous pattern for prayer

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that it covers the entire round of unfoldment of our souls completely.

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It omits nothing that is essential for our salvation and to our Christian life.

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If all that we had, if we had no other part of the Bible,

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if all on earth that we had was just these words,

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this prayer that Jesus taught us to pray,

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we would have all of the essentials for our salvation and to our Christian life.

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And yet this prayer is so compact that there's not a thought

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or a word too much.

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Every move fits into its place with perfect harmony and in perfect sequence.

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Again I repeat, the Lord has so constructed this prayer.

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He has constructed it with more skill

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than any attorney, any lawyer has ever displayed in the casting of a deed.

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Anything more would have been too much.

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Anything less would have been incomplete.

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The whole thing is there.

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I'll prove what I just said.

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He begins the prayer and I hope that all of you who are listening to me this very moment

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have been following me in our heart-to-heart talk regarding this prayer.

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Because what I'm going to say today will mean so much more to you

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if you have not missed my previous talks.

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He begins the prayer with the most beautiful words.

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Those first six words are the most beautiful words

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that could leave human lips.

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Our Father which art in heaven.

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And the very first thing he reminds us of is our relationship.

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He tells us right at the outset what God is.

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Our Father.

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Remember something, not every human being can say my Father.

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There is no such thing as the brotherhood of all mankind.

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The one thing that all men have in common and that is God as the mighty creator.

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That's one thing all of us have in common.

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He is every man's creator.

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But he does not become that one's father until that one has accepted Jesus Christ

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as their Savior in the forgiveness of their sins.

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Beloved, now are we the sons of God.

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But we do not become the sons of God until we have accepted His Son

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in the forgiveness of our sins.

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You have no right to continue the rest of this prayer.

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The only prayer if you are a sinner, if you've never been born again,

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if you know Him only as a mighty creator,

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you cannot claim His glorious promises for His children.

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The only prayer that God is bound by His word, His promise to answer for you

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as an unregenerated person is the prayer of forgiveness.

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And it's just like that.

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Right at the outset of this prayer, He tells us our relationship to the Father.

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He tells us what God is.

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And then He continues by telling us what man is.

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What's the next step?

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He tells us how we are to do our own work.

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Thy will be done here and now on earth as it is in heaven.

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You are important to God. You are personal to Him.

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He makes it very clear.

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As an individual, He has a perfect will for you.

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In His perfect knowledge, He holds the blueprint to your life in His hand.

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Not every man and every woman is living according to God's perfect will.

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Thousands have never lived a day of their lives according to God's great blueprint.

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Because man is so constructed that man has a will of his own.

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You have a will separate and apart from the will of God, even as a son of God,

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had a will separate and apart from the will of the Father.

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And before Jesus could fulfill the perfect will of God,

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He had to yield His will to the will of the Father.

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That's the reason He prayed that marvelous prayer.

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Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.

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Father, I submit, I surrender my will, which is separate and apart from yours,

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to you so that your perfect will can be carried out.

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God has a plan for you that He has for no other person.

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No one else can do your work for you.

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And He never willed, He never in a thousand worlds willed

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that any creature of His creation should ever live a defeated life.

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Never.

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Do you think that God ever willed that any man should be a drunkard?

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Do you think that God in His tender mercy ever gave life to you

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that you might live the despicable, the defeated life that you are living?

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The answer is no.

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You have chose to live the life that you live.

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You have willed to live the life that you are now living,

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a life contrary to the will of God.

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That's why in this prayer, watch it,

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Jesus begins by telling us what God is, then what man is,

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then how we are to do our own work.

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There is a plan.

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God does nothing promiscuously.

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Then He explains the way in which we are to receive our true nourishment.

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He knows that we are living in an old material world.

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That's the reason some people, you know, get so ethereal,

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so impractical when they come to living a Christian life.

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My friend, the Christian life is a life.

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It's living.

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It's the most practical thing in the world.

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God the Father is not only interested in the spiritual part of your life,

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He's even interested in your bread and butter.

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He wouldn't be a heavenly Father if He wasn't.

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And He goes all the way.

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He has promised a daily rake, all the days of our life,

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so long as we shall live.

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Not only the bread and the butter.

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He knows that there would be days when there'd be sorrow,

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there'd be temptations, and always know the cross will never be any greater than His grace.

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Know that.

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He has promised that if you surrender your will to His will,

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that He would make it possible that all things would work together for your good and to His glory.

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And that with every day, with the beginning of every day,

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until the clock strikes the midnight hour, closing that day,

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that there would be a daily rake for every day of your life.

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He will give you a full allowance that would meet every need of your life for that day.

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Now we come to something.

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Hold on.

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Remember what I told you when I began this little heart-to-heart talk today?

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That the Lord has constructed this prayer with more skill

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than any lawyer, any attorney, has ever displayed in the casting of a deed.

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Oh, say, you talk about an example of psychology.

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You talk about skill.

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Do you want to see perfect wisdom displayed in a pattern?

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It's here.

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Up until now, He has said nothing about the forgiveness of sin.

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Now one word.

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Had He begun this prayer with sin, there'd be those who'd be scared to death.

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And that's one thing.

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Let me remind you of something.

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The forgiveness of sin is the central problem of life.

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I repeat it.

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The forgiveness of sin is the central problem of every man's life.

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That's right.

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It is, of course, rooted in selfishness.

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All men are selfish.

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Oh, some woman says right now, goody, goody, goody, goody, miss, goody.

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Now when I use the word men, I mean all human beings.

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And women are just as selfish as men.

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I had to throw that in for good measure, just in case someone listening in

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would throw it up to their husband tonight when he came home.

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You do.

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You are a part of humanity.

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That's the truth.

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The forgiveness of sins, listen, it's the major tragedy of human experience.

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And He leads us right to this subject of sin.

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But prior to it, He tells us of God, our Heavenly Father.

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Oh, and that's thrilled.

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He tells us that the Father has promised to take care of His children.

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Oh, what could be more wonderful?

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I was in a department store only a couple of days ago when after I had made my purchase,

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the clerk came very close to me and said, Miss Grumman, I'm Roman Catholic.

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And she said, would you please autograph something for me?

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And I said, of course I will.

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And then she came back in just a few minutes.

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And she brought out of her purse something that was very precious to her.

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She said, you know, I belong to the Order of St. Francis.

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And she had her nice little card.

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She said, will you just autograph this for me?

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And I did.

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I knew how much it meant to her.

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And then after I had written my name on the card, I looked up and her eyes were brimming with tears.

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And she whispered it.

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She said, I get so discouraged, Miss Grumman.

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How can I overcome my discouragement?

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What can I do?

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I said, listen, when discouragement comes, just look up and remember to who you belong.

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That's all you do.

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Just look up and know that he is your heavenly father, your rich.

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And in the light of his love and his power, you can never be discouraged.

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In my next heart to heart talk, we're going to come face to face with the most important part of this prayer, the forgiveness of sin.