WEBVTT

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This one comes from Damien.

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And I'm going to move fast.

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But I love this question.

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I just love it.

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I hope there's some of you that do too.

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Damien says,

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"I love God.

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I worship Him.

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But I want to know Him more.

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I want His power to be

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pressed upon my life more.

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I want to walk with Him closer.

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I need to walk in His holy presence.

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I want to be more for Him.

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But I just feel weak.

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I try, but He does not come.

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I want to experience God more.

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How can I do that?

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How can I walk just with Him daily?

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How can I ascend the hill of the Lord

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and stand in His holy place?"

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And it sounds like he might have listened to

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the Bible study that we did about a month ago.

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Well, Damien, I come back to one verse

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over and over and over again.

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John 14:21

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Most of you have heard me quote it before.

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It's well worth quoting again.

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John 14:21

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"Whoever has My commandments

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and keeps them,

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he it is who loves Me,

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and he who love Me will be loved by My Father,

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and I will love Him, (and here it is)

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and manifest Myself to him."

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There is a manifestation of Christ

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to the soul of His people.

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And it is tied with having His commandments

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and keeping them.

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I know that A.W. Tozer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones,

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they both make comments about

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our obedience and how they relate

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to our desires to know God.

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Brethren, you know what?

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There's an Old Testament parallel to this.

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I like this one too.

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Isaiah 66:2

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Listen to this, God says,

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"This is the one to whom I will look,

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he who is humble and contrite in spirit,

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and trembles at My Word."

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Guess what?

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To have Christ's commandments and keep them?

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That's a New Testament version

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of trembling at God's Word.

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You tremble at God's Word

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when you do God's Word.

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Not when you hear it and don't do it.

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But when you hear it,

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and you tremble, and do it.

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Jesus Christ says if you have His commandments

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and you do it.

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In the Old Testament, it's if you tremble at His Word.

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God says to that man I'll look.

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What does that mean?

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There is something special in that.

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To that man I look.

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To that man Christ says I will manifest Myself.

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Those of you along with Damien,

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you have some concern about this,

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you want to excel more.

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I want to read to you a quote from Tozer.

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I'm going to end up here, pretty much,

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just reading a quote from Tozer

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and one from Spurgeon

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and we'll wrap things up.

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Listen to what Tozer said.

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Hear him well.

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These words he probably wrote, who knows,

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three or four decades ago.

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But they stand true and firm to this day.

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Tozer said this,

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"We don't need any new doctrine.

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No new movement.

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No key."

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You know how we get oftentimes?

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Well, we got to go to the new deal.

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Got to go to the new conference.

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Got to go to the new thing.

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Some new preacher over there.

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Some new program; some new thing

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up in the mountains.

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Some new thing going to have the special preachers.

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Yeah, if we could just get to that,

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we can go to that,

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then we can be the kind of Christian

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we need to be.

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You know what, that doesn't do it.

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The fact is, Tozer's hitting on it.

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You don't need a new doctrine;

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you don't need a new movement,

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you don't need a new key,

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you don't need some imported evangelist,

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some expensive course to show us the way.

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"It's before us as clear as

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a four lane highway."

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What is it?

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Have His commandments and keep them.

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He puts it this way:

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"Just do the next thing you know you should do

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to carry out the will of the Lord.

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If there's sin in your life,

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quit it instantly.

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Put away lying, put away gossip,

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put away dishonesty.

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Whatever your sin may be, put it away.

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Forsake worldly pleasures.

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Forsake extravagance in your spending.

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Forsake the vanity in your dress.

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Forsake the vanity in your car.

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Forsake the vanity in your home.

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In other words, put away your idols.

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Get right with any person you may have wronged.

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Forgive everyone who may have wronged you.

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Begin to use your money to help the poor.

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Advance the cause of Christ.

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Take up the cross, live sacrificially,

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pray, attend the Lord's services,

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witness for Christ, not only when it's convenient,

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but when you know you should.

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Look to no cost and fear no consequences.

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Study the Bible to learn the will of God

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and then do His will as you understand it.

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Start now by doing the next thing

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and go on from there."

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I'll tell you what,

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it doesn't get a whole lot simpler than that.

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We don't really need some new course,

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we don't need some new preacher,

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we don't need to go out to some new

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course work somewhere,

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we don't need the new thing, the new key,

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the new secret.

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It really comes down to that.

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You want to know the manifestations of Christ

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more fully than you've ever known them?

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You want to know what it is to have God look at you?

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You want to know what it is to be visited?

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I'll tell you what,

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God rarely visits with the people

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who run around their lives living all the way

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they want to, all extravagant, all worldly,

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all corrupt, all disobedient.

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No, they're typically not the ones that know

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the savory presence,

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the aroma of Jesus Christ in the secret place,

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in the inner parts of the soul.

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They're typically not the persons that have

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that type of visitation.

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You know what,

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He is of pure eyes than to behold iniquity.

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He chooses carefully those whom He visits.

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And I'm not ruling out what God can do,

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and I'm not wanting to put Him in a box,

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but I'm telling you this,

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you have a word to bank on

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that if obedience is a regular thing in your life

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and you are pressing on to live more and more...

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You know what?

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He said you need to die to yourself.

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You need to carry your cross.

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Do you know what carrying your cross is?

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It's that life right there.

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Carrying your cross is living according to His will.

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Have we not been talking about it in Romans 12?

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Living sacrifice.

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That's exactly what it is.

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Living sacrifice to God.

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All of it on the altar.

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Doing what His will is.

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Discerning.

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Trying what His will is.

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What is that acceptable,

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what is that good,

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what is that perfect?

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That's what you find in Romans 12:2.

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It's knowing what to do

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and doing it.

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And once you do the one thing,

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then you go on to the next thing.

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And you live your life doing

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what you know is good.

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Spurgeon says it this way.

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Now we're moving off a little bit

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from the obedience thing.

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Spurgeon hits on prayer.

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But I would say obedience and prayer life.

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But I'll tell you this,

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I have never known anybody

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mark my words,

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whether it's been myself,

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whether it's been those that I've read about,

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or those I've personally spoken to,

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I have never known a single person

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that has had great, dear, close

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extensive manifestations of closeness to God

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who have not prayed.

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They do not come to prayerless people.

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I have not known that to happen.

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Listen to what Spurgeon says,

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"The saint may expect to discover

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deeper experience,

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and to know more of the higher spiritual life

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by being much in prayer.

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There are common frames

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in the Christian life.

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There's feelings of repentance,

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there's faith, there's the joy and hope

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that are enjoyed by the entire family of God.

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But...

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there is an upper realm of rapture,

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of communion,

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of conscious union with Christ,

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that is far from being

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the common dwelling place of believers.

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All believers see Christ.

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But not all believers put their fingers

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into the prints of the nails,

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or thrust their hand into his side.

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Not all of us have the high privilege of John

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to lean upon Jesus' bosom,

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or be caught up into the third heaven

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as Paul was.

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In the ark of salvation, we find a lower,

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a second, and a third story.

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All are in the ark.

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But not all are in the same story.

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Most Christians are only up to their ankles

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in the river of experience.

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Some have waded till the stream

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is up to their knees.

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A few find the water up to their shoulders.

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But a very few find it a river to swim in.

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The bottom of which they cannot touch.

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There are heights in experiential knowledge

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of the things of God, the eagle's eye of acumen

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and philosophic thought have never seen.

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God alone can bring us there,

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but the chariot in which He takes us up,

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and the fiery steeds with which the chariot is dragged,

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is prevailing prayer."

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I read somewhere one time

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where someone said,

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we get as much of God

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as we want.

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I think there's truth in that statement.

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And those who want Him,

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those who pant after Him,

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those who hunger after Him,

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their obedience and their prayer life

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prove that they want Him.

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You cannot tell me,

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"Oh, I want Him; I'm panting after Him;

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I'm going hard after Him."

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And then your life is full of all sorts of disobedience.

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That doesn't fly.

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You can't tell me,

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"Oh, I want to know Him."

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"I want this experience. I want to find it

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a river to swim in."

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And yet my life is prayerless...

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You're not going to convince me of such things.

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You know what the Scripture says?

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I sought the Lord, and He answered me.

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You want to delve into this,

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there's got to be a seeking.

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It's when you seek, it's when you knock.

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There is a knocking and there is a banging,

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and there is a seeking and there is a praying

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and there is an asking.

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There is prayer.

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There is seeking.

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There is knocking.

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Some of that seeking is going to come

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through the obedience in your life.

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Brethren, I'll tell you, you can pray for this too.

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Scripture says that He gives the Holy Spirit

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to them that ask.

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Part of that great manifestation of God

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to the souls of His people

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is just outpourings of the Spirit of God.

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And it says if we'll ask.

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You know, the problem with people is,

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they hear a statement like that

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and they say,

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"Lord, can I have the Holy Spirit?"

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Nothing happens.

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They just go on with life.

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But there are some people,

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they say no, God has said it.

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They have the heart of David.

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"As a deer pants for flowing streams,

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so pants my soul for You, O God.

00:11:53.078 --> 00:11:56.962
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

00:11:56.962 --> 00:12:00.693
When shall I come and appear before God?

00:12:00.693 --> 00:12:02.271
O God, You are my God.

00:12:02.271 --> 00:12:03.592
Earnestly I seek You,

00:12:03.592 --> 00:12:05.023
my soul thirsts for You,

00:12:05.023 --> 00:12:06.471
my flesh faints for You,

00:12:06.471 --> 00:12:08.894
as in a dry and weary land

00:12:08.894 --> 00:12:10.678
where there is no water."

00:12:10.678 --> 00:12:12.525
You know what?

00:12:12.525 --> 00:12:14.632
Scripture says He fills the hungry.

00:12:14.632 --> 00:12:16.939
You go panting after God,

00:12:16.939 --> 00:12:18.076
you go after Him,

00:12:18.076 --> 00:12:19.472
you don't give Him any rest,

00:12:19.472 --> 00:12:21.287
you keep knocking, you keep seeking,

00:12:21.287 --> 00:12:23.416
you keep asking, you keep taking these texts

00:12:23.416 --> 00:12:25.034
before Him, you keep going to Him

00:12:25.034 --> 00:12:26.500
and pressing in there,

00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:29.632
you, by a life of obedience, you keep after Him,

00:12:29.632 --> 00:12:33.394
you get to know Him intimately in the prayer place,

00:12:33.394 --> 00:12:35.665
and I'll tell you, it won't be long.

00:12:35.665 --> 00:12:37.514
I know this for a fact.

00:12:37.514 --> 00:12:39.926
God will not let His people go on like that

00:12:39.926 --> 00:12:44.919
without eventually coming to him.

00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:48.156
I remember being at the one and only

00:12:48.156 --> 00:12:49.966
HeartCry Conference that I went to,

00:12:49.966 --> 00:12:52.614
and I remember Charles Leiter told me there,

00:12:52.614 --> 00:12:56.029
he knew of a pastor friend that took that text

00:12:56.029 --> 00:13:02.241
in Luke 11:13 that said if we then being evil

00:13:02.241 --> 00:13:04.146
know how to give good gifts to our children,

00:13:04.146 --> 00:13:05.628
how much more will our Father in heaven

00:13:05.628 --> 00:13:08.965
give good gifts to those who ask.

00:13:08.965 --> 00:13:10.536
And he said he had a pastor friend

00:13:10.536 --> 00:13:12.835
who took that verse and he began to plead it.

00:13:12.835 --> 00:13:15.145
And he was pleading it for years,

00:13:15.145 --> 00:13:21.326
and finally God came.

00:13:21.326 --> 00:13:23.947
Brethren, you want to walk on that holy place?

00:13:23.947 --> 00:13:28.492
You want to walk on God's mountain?

00:13:28.492 --> 00:13:30.080
It's not going to be something that

00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:31.678
you're just going to live your life

00:13:31.678 --> 00:13:33.253
sitting in front of a television,

00:13:33.253 --> 00:13:35.093
not going to be living your life sitting

00:13:35.093 --> 00:13:39.450
in front of a computer that's going to take you there.

00:13:39.450 --> 00:13:41.002
You're going to need to know God

00:13:41.002 --> 00:13:44.398
in the secret place of prayer.

00:13:44.398 --> 00:13:47.230
You're going to need to know God

00:13:47.230 --> 00:13:48.832
and know His commandments

00:13:48.832 --> 00:13:51.546
in the place of obedience.

00:13:51.546 --> 00:13:52.812
I'm telling you, any of you out there

00:13:52.812 --> 00:13:54.591
you're hungry?

00:13:54.591 --> 00:13:56.371
And you have that same heart of David?

00:13:56.371 --> 00:13:58.706
And you're heart is panting after God?

00:13:58.706 --> 00:14:00.960
Press on, brethren. Press on right there.

00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:02.282
Do the next thing you know how.

00:14:02.282 --> 00:14:03.653
Go to God's Word. Study it.

00:14:03.653 --> 00:14:05.684
You see it there. Apply it.

00:14:05.684 --> 00:14:07.136
Put it to practice in your life.

00:14:07.136 --> 00:14:09.255
Live it.

00:14:09.255 --> 00:14:11.196
And learn what it is to pray.

00:14:11.196 --> 00:14:12.887
And it's not something I can teach you.

00:14:12.887 --> 00:14:14.187
Prayer is not taught.

00:14:14.187 --> 00:14:15.427
Prayer is something you learn out there

00:14:15.427 --> 00:14:17.318
in the fields, out there in the closet,

00:14:17.318 --> 00:14:19.234
out there leaning on your bed.

00:14:19.234 --> 00:14:23.567
It's something you're going to learn as you pray.

00:14:23.567 --> 00:14:25.852
Yes, there's theory

00:14:25.852 --> 00:14:27.873
and there's theological realities,

00:14:27.873 --> 00:14:29.309
and there's verses in the Bible

00:14:29.309 --> 00:14:30.769
that we can take to.

00:14:30.769 --> 00:14:32.280
But just doing a study on

00:14:32.280 --> 00:14:33.470
the theology of prayer

00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:35.770
isn't want teaches prayer.

00:14:35.770 --> 00:14:37.898
You've got to come to know God

00:14:37.898 --> 00:14:41.267
in the midst of it.

00:14:41.267 --> 00:14:43.782
Brethren, listen to this.

00:14:43.782 --> 00:14:46.335
I want to end with this.

00:14:46.335 --> 00:14:48.470
So often this text is misused.

00:14:48.470 --> 00:14:50.222
So often, and you probably know the one

00:14:50.222 --> 00:14:52.235
if I say enough about it where I'm going with this.

00:14:52.235 --> 00:14:54.004
There is a text in the Bible that is so

00:14:54.004 --> 00:14:56.804
often misused as an evangelistic text.

00:14:56.804 --> 00:14:58.997
It is not an evangelistic text.

00:14:58.997 --> 00:15:01.530
It is a text that is for God's people.

00:15:01.530 --> 00:15:03.589
God's covenant people.

00:15:03.589 --> 00:15:05.422
You may know where I'm talking about.

00:15:05.422 --> 00:15:07.005
Revelation 3:20

00:15:07.005 --> 00:15:08.286
This is what Christ says, 


00:15:08.286 --> 00:15:13.147
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

00:15:13.147 --> 00:15:15.557
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,

00:15:15.557 --> 00:15:19.598
I will come into him and eat with him and he with Me."

00:15:19.598 --> 00:15:20.790
I'll tell you this,

00:15:20.790 --> 00:15:24.435
the picture in the Jewish mind of eating with somebody

00:15:24.435 --> 00:15:27.199
was intimacy.

00:15:27.199 --> 00:15:28.416
You know what Christ was saying?

00:15:28.416 --> 00:15:30.779
He's not saying this to lost sinners.

00:15:30.779 --> 00:15:32.282
So many people want us to believe that.

00:15:32.282 --> 00:15:34.352
He's speaking to a church.

00:15:34.352 --> 00:15:37.070
And He says this,

00:15:37.070 --> 00:15:39.576
I stand at the door and knock.

00:15:39.576 --> 00:15:41.814
And if you'll open to Me...

00:15:41.814 --> 00:15:46.201
Oh, brethren.

00:15:46.201 --> 00:15:50.403
What is it to open that door?

00:15:50.403 --> 00:15:52.417
And that text just rings of one

00:15:52.417 --> 00:15:53.791
from the Old Testament.

00:15:53.791 --> 00:15:55.369
Song of Solomon 5:2

00:15:55.369 --> 00:15:57.988
"I slept, but my heart was awake.

00:15:57.988 --> 00:16:01.223
A sound! My beloved is knocking."

00:16:01.223 --> 00:16:02.801
Is that not a picture of exactly

00:16:02.801 --> 00:16:04.223
what we find there?

00:16:04.223 --> 00:16:05.957
Our Beloved is knocking.

00:16:05.957 --> 00:16:07.237
He tells us that.

00:16:07.237 --> 00:16:09.689
Christian, you can stand there and wonder...

00:16:09.689 --> 00:16:13.009
well, if I go hard after Jesus,

00:16:13.009 --> 00:16:14.542
am I going to find Him?

00:16:14.542 --> 00:16:16.861
He says to churches,

00:16:16.861 --> 00:16:20.431
"I stand at the door and knock."

00:16:20.431 --> 00:16:23.251
If you'll open.

00:16:23.251 --> 00:16:24.924
I'll come in and sup with you.

00:16:24.924 --> 00:16:25.920
You say what's that?

00:16:25.920 --> 00:16:27.340
I'll guarantee you this,

00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:30.320
it's worth having.

00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:32.459
"My beloved is knocking."

00:16:32.459 --> 00:16:33.940
You know he says?

00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:36.463
"Open to me, my sister, my love,

00:16:36.463 --> 00:16:38.933
my dove, my perfect one.

00:16:38.933 --> 00:16:40.784
For my head is wet with dew,

00:16:40.784 --> 00:16:43.028
my locks with the drops of the night.

00:16:43.028 --> 00:16:45.042
I'd put off my garment.

00:16:45.042 --> 00:16:46.760
How could I put it on?"

00:16:46.760 --> 00:16:48.536
That's what she's saying.

00:16:48.536 --> 00:16:51.099
"I bathed my feet, how could I soil them?

00:16:51.099 --> 00:16:53.605
My beloved put his hand to the latch.

00:16:53.605 --> 00:16:55.648
My heart was thrilled within me."

00:16:55.648 --> 00:16:57.989
and if you know the story,

00:16:57.989 --> 00:17:01.086
He left.

00:17:01.086 --> 00:17:02.849
She finally got up and she went over.

00:17:02.849 --> 00:17:04.476
You know with that,

00:17:04.476 --> 00:17:07.158
that's a picture right there.

00:17:07.158 --> 00:17:09.027
What happens?

00:17:09.027 --> 00:17:14.053
The Lord, my love, He's at the door.

00:17:14.053 --> 00:17:18.015
He's beckoning to me.

00:17:18.015 --> 00:17:20.827
Lord, not right now.

00:17:20.827 --> 00:17:23.162
I've got to check my email.

00:17:23.162 --> 00:17:24.958
Not right now.

00:17:24.958 --> 00:17:27.832
I'll get there though.

00:17:27.832 --> 00:17:29.281
Oh, you know my favorite show's on

00:17:29.281 --> 00:17:30.426
right now, Lord.

00:17:30.426 --> 00:17:33.225
Not just now.

00:17:33.225 --> 00:17:35.517
Oh, the guys are coming over, Lord.

00:17:35.517 --> 00:17:39.347
We need to hang out.

00:17:39.347 --> 00:17:44.062
Your Beloved is at the door.

00:17:44.062 --> 00:17:46.041
And we do the same thing.

00:17:46.041 --> 00:17:47.255
By the time she got up,

00:17:47.255 --> 00:17:50.090
by the time she got around to it,

00:17:50.090 --> 00:17:55.273
he was gone.

00:17:55.273 --> 00:18:02.011
If you have a heart,

00:18:02.011 --> 00:18:04.668
run when He beckons you.

00:18:04.668 --> 00:18:06.484
And He beckons you in the Word.

00:18:06.484 --> 00:18:07.373
Go there.

00:18:07.373 --> 00:18:08.512
You say can I find Him?

00:18:08.512 --> 00:18:09.440
You can find Him.

00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:10.785
If He says He's at that door

00:18:10.785 --> 00:18:12.386
and He's knocking,

00:18:12.386 --> 00:18:18.655
you say, what does it mean to let Him in?

00:18:18.655 --> 00:18:22.576
Oh folks,

00:18:22.576 --> 00:18:24.860
you're very familiar with what it is

00:18:24.860 --> 00:18:27.592
to keep Him out.

00:18:27.592 --> 00:18:30.259
We don't have to dig too deep

00:18:30.259 --> 00:18:33.377
to know what it is.

00:18:33.377 --> 00:18:35.623
There's a thousand things in this life

00:18:35.623 --> 00:18:38.081
that pull our hearts away,

00:18:38.081 --> 00:18:42.557
that pull us away from Him.

00:18:42.557 --> 00:18:45.641
There it is.

00:18:45.641 --> 00:18:48.153
Obey.

00:18:48.153 --> 00:18:50.399
Pray.

00:18:50.399 --> 00:18:52.743
He beckons you to come.

00:18:52.743 --> 00:18:56.052
He beckons you to open.

00:18:56.052 --> 00:19:00.305
Open.

00:19:00.305 --> 00:19:02.357
Well, there it is.

00:19:02.357 --> 00:19:05.369
There are my four.

00:19:05.369 --> 00:19:15.394
Let's pray.

00:19:15.394 --> 00:19:18.266
Father, teach us all

00:19:18.266 --> 00:19:24.829
what it is to open that door.

00:19:24.829 --> 00:19:26.601
I know not what else more

00:19:26.601 --> 00:19:27.758
to pray right now.

00:19:27.758 --> 00:19:30.787
Just teach us, Lord.

00:19:30.787 --> 00:19:33.099
Give us a generation of men and women

00:19:33.099 --> 00:19:36.354
that are quick to open that door.

00:19:36.354 --> 00:19:37.974
I pray in Christ's name,

00:19:37.974 --> 00:19:38.802
Amen.