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You get some people,

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and I had a brother telling me recently

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about his concern for people

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who they seem to talk the talk,

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but they seem to lack
a sense of the reality.

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And you know when your Christianity

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is all theory, that's bad.

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That's bad because Christianity

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deals with more than
just a knowledge up here

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of what the truths are.

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You know what I see?

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I see some people -

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and we don't want to be these people -

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they know the truth

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and they try to persuade themselves

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that what is true of biblical Christianity

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because it's described in this book,

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they try to persuade themselves

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that it's true of them.

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But we're talking of something -

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listen, if Christ indwells your heart

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and you're rooted and grounded

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in that love that He saturates you with,

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and you begin to have some idea

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about the breadth and length

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and height and depth

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and to grab hold of this
unsearchable love of Christ,

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and you're filled with
all the fullness of God,

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I guarantee, that's not the kind of thing

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where you have to sit back and say,

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"Well, I don't feel the reality of this,

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but because I believe it in my head,

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I'm going to try to persuade
myself that this is real."

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That's not what's happening here.

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That's not the kind of
Christianity we find in Scripture.

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Let me ask you this:

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is Christ real to you?

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Is Christ real within you?

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I'm not talking religion and church

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and reading your Bible

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and singing the hymns.

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Is Christ real to you? Him!

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Has He come in?

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And in the same way

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that He would sit down with somebody

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and have supper with them,

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and you would know it,

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do you know that reality?

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Because if not, I'm telling you,

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don't be content.

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Look, if you're not ready
to go further here,

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if you're content with this,

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you can be content with that.

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But I think verses like this

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are meant to make us not content

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and to take the prayer

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as an indication that this is a promise.

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If Paul weren't under inspiration,

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we might question:

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Well, he's fallible.

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Could he be praying for something

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God wouldn't maybe perhaps

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really be willing to give us?

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But he is under inspiration,

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which means Paul asking this for us

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is as good as it being a promise.

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This is God telling him,

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"Paul, pray that way for them

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and let's record it

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in the letter to the Ephesians

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for all the future generations to see

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that this is a very valid and
legitimate thing to ask for

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because I intend to give this."

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It's a promise.