WEBVTT

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We're going to have a good talk today. A good

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heart -to -heart talk. We're just talking about

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something that concerns every blessed one of

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us. I said to someone the other day, at the close

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of a busy day, and it was just spontaneous. You

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know, I said, it's the strangest thing just when

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a person gets ready to leave this old world.

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you realize that you're starting to learn how

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to live. I'd give anything in the world if right

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now I could impart all the knowledge about living

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that I have had to learn and have had to learn

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through bitter experiences and hard knocks. To

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everybody that I know. If I could only help you.

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That you would not have to go through some of

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the things that I have gone through. If I could

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save you. Some of those tears that you're going

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to have to shed. Some of those heartaches. Some

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of those heartbreaks. Here I am. I've spent years

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living. And when I stop and take inventory, it's

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only during the past five, six, or seven years

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that I can honestly say that I've started to

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learn how to live. What's the most important

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thing that you and I can do in this life? This

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is the answer. The most important thing is to

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learn how to live. Life on Earth. is a very precious

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possession. And the thing is, it doesn't last

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very long. Not really. Not even for the man or

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the woman who lives to be 80, 83, 85, 87. Kind

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of a precious gentleman. A very precious gentleman

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in Los Angeles who celebrated his 100th... I

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dare say if you would talk to him, he would say

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that even a hundred years on this earth seems

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very short. No, beloved. It doesn't last very

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long. And life on earth is a precious, a very

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precious possession. And why do we have it? Our

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great privilege is to do the best we can with

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it. I don't admire anyone who does not want to

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do the best he can with his life here on Earth.

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I don't think he has the admiration of anyone.

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A strange thing about life is that everybody

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has to live it for himself. You simply cannot

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hand it down to... Someone else. You can't do

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it. You simply cannot. Parents live. They acquire

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wisdom. They try to hand this wisdom down to

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their children, and then what happens? The children

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may take some of it, but some of it they neglect

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or turn aside from. And so they make the same

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old mistakes that their parents made. And then

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they get burnt and hurt just as their parents

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did. And when they get to be parents, their children

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do the same thing. They had the same experience.

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You can't do it. You simply cannot give somebody

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else the wisdom that you have received. You can

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try. That's one thing I've had to learn. It's

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been a hard lesson for me to learn. I try to

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live somebody else's life for them. I try to

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save them from the pitfalls. I try to give them

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the wisdom that I have learned from these pitfalls.

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But you can go just so far and no further. You

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can give advice. You can talk with folk, but

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they have got to learn for themselves. It's just

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like that. It's seen that the wisdom the human

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race runs out with every generation for each

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person has to acquire for himself. The success

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or the failure of your life depends upon how

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much of it you get. Some people never know how

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to live. They never learn how to live. They never

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learn no matter how old they get. They know as

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little about it when they finish as when they

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start. It's a sad fact. And they are the ones

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who mess up their own lives. And when we consider...

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most of us bring all of our troubles on ourselves.

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Right now I'm talking to somebody who's right

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in the middle of a mess. How do I know? I know

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from the prayer requests you send in to me. I

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know all about you because you've told me. You

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buried your soul, your life, in those prayer

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requests. And when I analyze most, of your troubles,

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perhaps so close to you, you don't realize it,

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but for someone who's further from them, you'll

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have to admit you've gotten yourself into the

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mess that you're in. You brought your trouble

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on yourself to the lack of wisdom, or perhaps

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from the lack of knowledge, but mostly from the

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ability of not knowing how to live. Now the secret

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of life is not in books. It's not in a thought

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pattern. The secret of how to live is in the

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identification of oneself with a person. The

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one person of all people who really knew How

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to live. And that one is Jesus Christ. I can

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go to him and get the answer as to how to live.

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You don't get it out of books. Do you want to

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know how I know that you can't get it out of

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books? Because here's the author. He's written

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a masterpiece on how to live. Oh, it sounds good

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on paper. It sounds so logical, and you say,

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I found the answer. But you know, if you start

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digging down into the author's life, you'll find

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out that that which he has written is only on

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paper. Own life is such a mess. But there's one.

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There is one, my friend, who has the answer.

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That one is Jesus Christ. And the secret of how

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to live is in the identification of oneself with

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a person. Jesus. Now, who is Jesus? Is he a misty

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figure? To lots of people he is. To a lot of

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folk, Jesus is only a misty figure. Away out

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someplace they're not quite sure where. They

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see him in stained glass windows where he's...

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given a kind of ethereal look. And he seems to

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them to be so remote, so far away from human

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people today. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus

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is the Savior of mankind. But he is even more

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than that. How could he be more than that? He

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is. I promise you he is. He is even more than

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the very son of the living God. He is more than

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a religious figure, as important as that is.

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Jesus is the personification of that tremendous

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thing that's called the life force, the universal

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mind, out of which we come, part of which we

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are. in which we find life in its fullness. And

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when you get aboard the life force and the life

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force gets into you, then you really learn how

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to live. And that's the answer. I always thrill

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to something. The words of Paul when he's standing

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there on Mars Hill. It's recorded over here in

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the 17th chapter of Acts. I read a portion. God

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that made the world and all things therein, seeing

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that he is the Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth

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not in temples made with hands, neither is worship

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with men's hands as though he needed anything,

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seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all

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things. And it's made of... one blood all nations

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of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth

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and hath determined the times before appointed

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and the bounds of their habitation that they

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should seek the lord if haply they might feel

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after him and find him though he be not far from

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every one of us and then it comes for in him

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We live and move and have our being. For in him

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we live and move. He is the mighty creator. He

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is the one who gives life. We live through his

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mercy. But few, comparatively few, had their

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being. in him is practical. There's a young man

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that I know who works for one of the finest engineering

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companies here in the city of Pittsburgh. Something

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happened the other day that was very thrilling

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to me. He received the highest award possible.

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because of his great sales ability. In fact,

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he was such a genius at selling that his company,

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which is internationally known, sent a psychiatrist

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from New York City to study him, to be with him,

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to see just what was the secret The psychiatrist

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stayed with Jess for several days. And then,

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before going back to New York, he had to write

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out his report. And turning to Jess, he said,

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Just what is your secret? And Jess smiled and

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said, Just this innocent little child. Jesus

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Christ. He said, what? Yeah. Jesus Christ? He

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said to Jess, what actually did the man put on

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his report, the psychiatrist? When he went back

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to New York, he said, I saw the report, and on

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it was written, religious convictions. But what

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was it? Jess had learned the secret. Not only,

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beloved, to live, to have life in Christ Jesus.

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Not only dependent on him for physical existence,

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but he had found the secret of having his Being

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in a person. The very son of the living God.

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And the secret of how to live is in the identification

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of oneself with a person. The one person. Jesus

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Christ. The very son of God.