WEBVTT

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We'll serve for just a few minutes. You and I

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are going to have one of those good old heart

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-to -heart talks again, and it's going to be

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about something that is very practical. And I'll

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be talking to myself just as much as I'll be

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talking to you. We'll be talking this thing over

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together. I'm going to give you some good sound

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advice. Do not fight your rheumatism. Do not

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fight your enemies. Do not fight your dislikes

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or your debt or your uncongenial job. Don't fight

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your problems. Do not fight your uncontrollable...

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teenagers in your home. Don't fight your wife.

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Don't fight that which you dislike in your husband.

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When you fight a thing, you antagonize it and

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it hits back. When you fight your enemies, it

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antagonizes them and they'll fight back. When

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you fight your teenagers in your home, it antagonizes

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them and they fight back. When you fight your

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uncongenial job, it antagonizes the situation

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that much more and it fights back at you. The

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harder you fight it, the harder it hits. What

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you neglect? or still better, ignore, begins

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to fade away or just die by starvation. If you

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don't fight back at your enemies, sooner or later

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they get tired of fighting you and it takes two

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people to fight, you know. And it won't be long

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before the thing will just fade away or just

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automatically die. By starvation. When you give

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your attention to anything, you're building that

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thing into your own consciousness. For good or

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for evil. When you're faced with some negative

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condition in your own life, the scientific way

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to handle it is to withdraw your attention from

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it by building the opposite into your subconscious.

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And when you've done this, the undesirable thing

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just falls away like an overripe fruit. There's

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something that's very marvelous. And let me give

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you the illustration from the Word of God. And

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it'll prove to you that you're not to look too

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long at this self in God, but look at... A great

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many cults center upon self -cultivation and

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leave behind a multitude of wistful but frustrated

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people. Lifted for just a moment and then limping

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for a lifetime. Why? Just why? Because you dare

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not center on yourself. for if you do as sure

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as fate you will lose yourself whosoever will

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lose his life centring on himself centring on

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his life loving it even for purposes of cultivating

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it will lose it as long as peter looked at himself

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or at the waves around him or its circumstances,

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he started sinking. It was only as he looked

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at Jesus, as long as he centered his thoughts

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on Jesus, his mind on Jesus, as long as he saw

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Jesus, he walked firmly on the waters. Beloved,

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look at yourself. Look at others and you'll see

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just as surely as there's a God on his throne.

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Look at Christ. Your eyes fastened on him and

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you can walk on anything. Now this marvelous

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law of losing one's life to find it runs through...

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Everything, Jesus said. Consider the lilies.

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How they grow. How do they grow? By being self

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-conscious? By fussily trying to grow and to

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look beautiful? No, a thousand times no. How

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do they grow? They look at the sun. And in their

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sun -centeredness, They themselves grow beautiful.

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Oh, to me, that's marvelous. Watch something

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else. Something that's very, very practical.

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Turn to the life of Paul in the fourth chapter

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of Galatians. He says, I'm afraid of you. Speaking

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to those precious early Christians. So many of

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them, his own converts. He had taught them the

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word. He had literally given to them the deep

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spiritual revelations that God himself had given

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to him. And now came the time when they were

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losing some of their spirituality. And the minute

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that you lose sight of Jesus, the minute that

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you stop focusing your attention on the Christ,

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the very Son of the living God, you're going

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to become critical, self -centered. Watch it.

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I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon

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you labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech you. Be

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as I am, for I am as you are. Ye have not injured

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me at all. In other words, you haven't injured

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me by your criticism. Ye know how through infirmity

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of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at

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the first, and my temptation which was in my

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flesh ye described. Revised not nor rejected.

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Why? I'll tell you why. They didn't see Paul's

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shortcomings. They didn't see his infirmities

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of the flesh. They didn't see his failures. Because

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their eyes were upon Jesus. Their eyes were not

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on the person of Paul. That's the reason they

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didn't see his infirmities the flesh. They were

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looking beyond Paul to Jesus Christ, the very

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Son of the living God. Ye know how through infirmities

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the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the

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first, and my temptations which was in my flesh

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ye despised not, nor rejected. but received me

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as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where

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is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear

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you record that, if it had been possible, ye

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would have plucked out your own eyes and have

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given them to me. Think of it. They so loved

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him in the spirit because they loved Jesus. So

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great was their love for Jesus. So marvelous

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was their consecration to him that even as Paul,

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as the servant of God, brought them the gospel,

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they didn't even see Paul's temptations in the

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flesh. Great was their appreciation for the gospel

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that Paul said they would have gladly have plucked

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out their own eyes and given them to him. They

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so loved him. Why? Because they loved him in

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the Lord. They loved him in the Spirit. And as

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long as you and I are in the Spirit, we will

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so be filled with the love of Christ that we

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won't see the shortcomings in our brethren. Oh,

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beloved, to me that's glorious. He continues

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in Philippians, the fourth chapter. Finally,

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brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever

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things are false, Honest. Whatsoever things are

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just. Whatsoever things are pure. Whatsoever

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things are lovely. Whatsoever things are of good

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report. If there be any virtue and if there be

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any praise, think on these things. Think good

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thoughts. fighting your enemies. Stop fighting

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your dislikes. Stop fighting the job that you

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hate so much. Stop seeing the bad in others.

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See their good always. Amen.