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This week. Last week, we had that whole time change thing. It threw a few of you off and I could see it in your eyes but are you fully alive this morning? Yes. Good.
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Well, would you stand with us and we're going to sing some powerful song. There is power in the blood. Hymn number three twenty nine. I'm going invite Scott if he'll come up and help out with the singing. Hymn number three twenty nine, if you wanna look up your part, but the words are gonna come up on that wall.
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We wore him out.
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Are you washed in the blood? This is fantastic. Flip over the page. Three thirty. That is powerful medicine right there.
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That's what it is. And we don't always hear the bass part so I might sing this.
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Yeah, you go right ahead. I love it. Are your garments spotless are they white as snow are you washed in the blood of the lamb
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Y'all can have a seat. It's good to have you back, Scott. Wow. Last time you were here, I don't think I was but he and I'm looking forward to summertime and that's another way I'm looking forward towards summertime is having you here all the time. So, Monday nights at First B is happening.
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Tomorrow night, Carl is in Colossians one. He's talking about the supremacy of Christ and all things and that's a good one. Anything else you want to add to that, Carl? Oh, yeah. Corned beef and cabbage.
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Fantastic. Meal music and a message. And the music set this morning, I think we're gonna play some of those songs again, and it was powerful. Just a powerful and this, I mean, power in the blood and are you watching the blood is pretty powerful too. So come on in and see Monday nights at first be what's happening.
6:34
We also, at the same time, have Monday nights happening here in this room starting out with Awana. And if you don't know, this is a new slide. Yesterday, we were supposed, they were supposed to meet somewhere else but that changed and two churches got together. Church from Lander came over here, spent the night Saturday night in our basement, kinda camped out, and then prepared themselves for Bible quiz. So we had Bible quiz happening right here yesterday up until like two or three in the afternoon.
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And you can see all the kids holding up answer c. That was a kind of a multiple choice sort of a a way of answering the quiz. And we've got our judges down here and everything. So I can tell you this. In the Bible quiz, Lander edged us out.
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But we whipped them unmercifully in the name of Jesus on the games. Okay? Alright. No, I'm I'm joking about that but it really, Awana is a lot of games but it's a lot of scripture and it's going into their heads to reach their hearts and it was it was a tremendous amount of fun here this morning and we have been doing that with Lander and Riverton and a few other churches, and we're spread out. You know how that is around here.
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But to get kids together and excited about scripture is a really, really good thing. It's not it's it's fun. It's what it is. And so is Awana. Monday nights, 05:45 to 07:30.
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Precept study, they are studying in Acts right now. And how much more of that do you have going? A time. Good. Acts is a long book.
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That's right. Chapter 16. Okay. Half a chapter each time. We're in chapter 16.
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So there's time. If you wanna come in, you could still be really, really blessed. Thursday's 09:00 in the morning through 11:30 in the Fellowship hall. Sharpen your pencils. Two new people came just recently.
8:19
Fantastic. So, that's coming on. Community Bible study is in the last one of their meetings. It's the end of their study of Hebrews, nine: 3zero am or 06:30PM on Wednesday this week. They'll be finishing up their study of the book of Hebrews.
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Childcare is available in the mornings. That's a CBS group that's starting up. Actually, it's ending, but it's starting up at the same time, if that makes any sense. It's the last one in this study, but that group is is forming. There was a discovery class today.
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If there's anybody here who thinks, I think I might want to be a member of this church, that's a good place to start to just hear kind of core values and statement of faith and that sort of thing, and then talk about your background if you'd like to and we'll tell you more about that. It happens in my office in on the third Sunday of the month each month at 10:00 but you can schedule it with me if you want to do it any other time if you'd like to do that. Connect hours happen in between services every Sunday at around ten ish. And I think there's one more announcement. I knew I was gonna forget it so I triggered when I see this to say that.
9:21
So Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center has paid and is paying, I should say is paying to rent out the Twin Theater here in town, the little MovieWorks Twin, the Jackson twin. They're doing that, and they're going to show a movie called Unplanned. It's the true story of Abby Johnson who was formerly head of Planned Parenthood. And then she had a change of heart and a change of mind, and and she it's her story. So it's actually pretty good.
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First b, Carolyn came the other day and said, we don't we have to pay for it before we could do it. And so I'm going around to churches and asking who would buy what because we have to pay for it entirely before we can get to come here. So they're planning on doing this on April 7, that is a Sunday. April the is that right? It's April 7, whenever that is.
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They're doing it on April 7, it is a Sunday. And they're doing that for anybody who wants to come, but we do have to have tickets. So first we bought 50 of them. And if you want to get one of those, we'll talk to Diane in the office or talk to Nick in the office or talk to Carolyn Marzyniak and kinda claim your seat. And then they're gonna be $12 apiece, but that is so that we can get it here.
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Does that make sense? One night only, that's the way it is. The movie is called Unplanned. It's supposed to be a good moving story. I've not seen the movie, but anyway.
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Any other that I'm forgetting? If not, would you all stand up and greet one another and we will bring you back together with a song in a minute. Amen. Amen. The song might change my heart, oh God.
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To transform us by the renewing of our minds.
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Change my change my heart heart oh let's
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sing that again I can have a seat. Would I, can I get the frontline team to come forward, please? Thank you very much and would y'all pray with me? God, we thank you for the morning that you've given for the beauty all around us, lord and for calling us into springtime. The joy of our salvation, lord.
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I'm reminded of that. Would you, lord, give us peace that passes understanding and would you comfort us in our time of affliction? Would you encourage us along our way? Lord, we ask that you would also take these tithes and offerings that we're going to place in these plates and that you would bless em lord. Multiply them to do your kingdom's work.
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I pray that the act of giving it would be a blessing for the giver and that the the where it is spent lord would be effective for the cause of Christ. In Jesus name, we ask you to do your will in your way on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. Amen. Would y'all stand with me?
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We're gonna do this from memory, whether it's written up there or not, right? Would y'all pray with me Lord's prayer? Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
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Amen. Thank you. Y'all can have a seat. We don't do that every Sunday but I in between services, I started to think about it and then a fellow showed up who really likes that and as soon as I saw him, I thought, we're going to do that today. I've got an unusual sermon, I think.
20:13
You know that we've been going through a New Testament study for the last six and a half years. But I've got four weird Old Testament verses today, and they they are weird, and I'll show them to you, and you'll see what I mean, I think. From numbers 21 and then I've got three wonderful corresponding New Testament verses but as I was studying, I like to go in order. I really have a a tendency to just go sequentially. It makes more sense to me and so I do that.
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So that's what, last week we were in numbers 20. We did versus up through thirteen, one through 13. And so this week we're gonna start in 14 in a minute. But I wanna say, this week has been busy. Has it been busy for y'all?
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Really busy. And celebration wise, it's been really busy. I don't know if all of y'all know about this, but 03/14, the March 14, is when mathematicians started doing it. Now everybody's getting into the act, is pie day. I think it's popular because you eat pie on pie day.
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I don't know, but 3.14 is the way we, you know, abbreviate pie, but pie goes on and on and on, three point one four. That's the first 812 decimal points right there. Now, way back in the time of the ancient Babylonians and the ancient Egyptians, in fact, around the time of this Moses Exodus story just before that, they had figured it to a couple of decimal places, 3.12. It is the circumference of a circle as related to the diameter of that circle. That's what it is.
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Now, they had it to two decimal points. We usually round it to two. You might get some that rounded off slightly differently. But I want you to get this. I tried it in the first service and I didn't go anywhere.
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Try it again. It is an irrational number that does not repeat and it goes on forever. Into infinity, they have, and I'm not joking, somebody somewhere, nerd, went into I was a mathlete when I was in high school too, by the way. I went on math team beats and like comp competed in that. And it's kinda cool that it is an irrational number that goes into infinity.
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They have figured it to the ten trillionth place, decimal place, and it never repeats. Does that make any sense to you? It's an irrational number. It does it's not supposed to make sense, but it's true. Does that make sense?
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It points towards infinity. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says, God has placed infinity or eternity in our hearts. We know that it's true even though it's beyond what we can comprehend, and we keep on trying. I mean, we keep trying. Ten trillionth.
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And it never repeats. It never gets any better or worse. It just keeps going. Okay? It is what it is.
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That's the truest form of that I have thought of lately. It just is. Okay. So three fifteen. Three fifteen, what do you think of?
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Okay. Literature nerds now. Beware the Ides of March, right? This is from Julius Caesar. It's forty four AD forty four BC.
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Julius Caesar, he crosses Rubicon, he comes in, and he is setting himself up to be Pontificus Maximus. He is gonna be the guy. He's the tyrant in control. And then the senate kills him on the odds of 03/03/2015. Are you with me?
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He had he had it warned. He had been warned. I mean, the play, it's a soothsayer. And in ancient Rome, it was it was divination. It was not a good thing, but he had been warned.
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Beware the Ides of March. Beware the odds of March. Beware the odds of March. And in the play, he goes by the soothsayer and he goes, hey, it's the odds of the odds of March have come. And the soothsayer says to him, yay, but they have not passed.
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Beware of the ides of March. So anyway, for you literature folk, three fifteen, beware of the ides of March. There was a warning there and that warning was not heeded and it didn't badly for him. Et tu brute, right? Okay.
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03:16, we'll skip for a minute. 03:17, today is Saint Patrick's Day. Saint Patrick's Day, oh my goodness. The distortion we have made with this day. It's all about shamrocks and leprechauns and green beer and all kinds of stuff.
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But Saint Patrick was an incredible guy. And if you don't know his true full story, you ought to look up his true full story instead of he ran all the snakes out of Ireland and he did a lot of different things, you know. That there's in a lot of pieces, a lot of places in history, there's not much information we have to go off the little information we have. In Saint Patrick's case, there's so much misinformation that we have so much it's hard to weed through. But if you look up the truth about Saint Patrick in the gospel, in the perspectives course, there's a great blurb about it, although it's hard to find.
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And if you look it up, you can find it. I will say this. At 16 years of old, young Patrick was captured by raiders that came in from pagan Ireland. And as they come in, they capture him and take him strong back. They take him back to work.
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They're pagans. They take him back to work in Ireland. Now, he'd been introduced to the faith by his family but it never really become his own faith but when he's taken into slavery in Ireland, he begins to pray. He begins to pay attention and he connects with God, the God of the Bible and it's Christ his savior and he found his salvation there and he awoke. He was a bit of a mystic.
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He woke in the middle of the night with a dream that there would be a ship coming and he got up and he went down to the beach and he met that ship and he was saved. Away from his temporal peril and he went back to where he was from and he lived there. And then, as he prayed and continued his deep relationship with God, he felt God impressing upon him to go back to those pagans who had captured him and share with them the gospel and he did and that's why Saint Patrick is Saint Patrick because he obeyed the Lord's command. He went back and Ireland was changed forever because of the ministry of one man being faithful to God. Now, like I said, it's been blown all out of proportion and a lot of different crazy and unholy ways since then but Saint Patrick's Day, yeah.
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Celebrate it. Celebrate it for someone actually listening and paying attention to the gospel and the implications of the gospel that others need to know. Okay? Are you with me? Okay, that was all prologue.
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We've got a little more prologue here. Numbers 20. I'm gonna start right where we left off last week because that makes the most sense to me. This is this is like extra innings. Okay?
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This is free baseball right here. Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom saying, this is what your brother Israel says. Now, if you don't know much about Edom and when he says, this is what your brother, Israel says, you know, Israel or Jacob and Esau were brothers. Jacob and Esau were brothers and Jacob got the birthright, kinda tricked Esau into it, and there was a split right there. And Esau's people were the Edomites, and Jacob's people were the Israelites.
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Okay? So, there's history there. It's it's a long history and we can see this from the text. Moses sent messengers from Kadesh, Kadesh Barnea to the king of Edom saying, this is what your brother Israel says. You know all about the hardships that have come on us.
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Our ancestors went down into Egypt and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors. It's four hundred and thirty years, by the way. Four hundred and thirty years they have been in slavery in Egypt. Our ancestors went down into Egypt and we lived there many years, four and thirty.
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The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors. It wasn't just the people that were telling him this. They were all of the people. They had grown into a great nation. Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors but when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us up out of Egypt.
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Now, that's a very short way of telling the Exodus story but when it get right down to it, that angel, angel death that came and took the firstborn of anyone who didn't have the Passover blood over their door frames, right? That was the story of them coming out of Egypt and they're just asking permission because where they are, Kadesh, Barnea, they can just about see where they're going. They know the promised land's right over there and the only thing stands in between them and the promised land is Edom. So, they went. Now, we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.
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They got right up to the edge of Edom and stopped. They camped there for a long time actually. And they say, please, let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King's Highway and not turn to the right nor to the left until we have passed through your territory.
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So we're not gonna take anything that's yours. And so Edom answered like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. You not pass. You may not pass through here. Okay?
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Now, was serious about it. He might not have been quite as serious as Gandalf but he he was serious about it. He said, if you try, if you don't listen to what I've said, if you try, we will come out and we will march out and attack you with the sword. He was serious about what he was saying. And the Israelites replied, we will go along.
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They're negotiating now. We'll go along the main road. And if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we'll pay for it because it is a desert town, and water's precious. Right? Desert pathway through Edom.
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And if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot, nothing else. And it's not a big deal because they can get through it without any food or water from these people. They're gonna walk through. They wanna walk through Edom.
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They're negotiating for it now. And again, they answered You shall not pass. He was serious about it. Okay? And then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army.
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So, if you don't believe me, here we are. They sent out the large and powerful army. Now, Israel at this point, there are a lot of em but it's men and women and children and livestock and all their belongings, all their stuff. Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army and since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them. So, okay, that is how the story goes.
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The whole Israelite community, that's men, women, children, everybody set out from Kadesh and they came to Mount Hor. And at Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, Aaron will be gathered to his people. That's a way of saying he'll die by the way. Ones who've gone on before him. Aaron will be gathered to his people.
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He will not enter the land I give the Israelites because both of you rebel. Last week, we talked about Moses having received the word of the Lord that because you did not trust me and you did not believe and show me as holy in front of the Israelites, you shall not enter this promised land that I've given to them. So, he's saying it again but he's saying this time, Aaron, Aaron will be gathered to his people and not enter the land. I give to the Israelites because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah when Moses spoke to the people and struck the rock, right? Get Aaron and his son, Eleazar, and take them up to Mount Hor.
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Remove Aaron's garments, that's his priestly garments, and put them on his son, Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will die there. He makes it very obvious at that point. Now, Aaron, there's no sense at all that Aaron's sick or old or feeble. He just is going to die there and Moses did as the Lord commanded.
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Thank you lord for that note of obedience. Moses did just as the Lord had commanded and they went up to Mount Hore in the side of the whole community and Moses removed Aaron's priestly garments and put them on his son, Eleazar, who was next in line and he was of the Levite people that were the ones that would be the priest but he was younger and he was not disobedient. He was not one of the ones that had to die off. Moses removed Aaron's priestly garments, put them on his son, Eleazar, and Aaron died. They're on top of the mountain.
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And Moses and Eleazar came down. Three went up, two came down from the mountain and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him for thirty days. So they just stopped right there for thirty days. They're right on the edge starting to go around Edom and that's the end of chapter 20. 21 cranks up right where they left off and it's a quick little story about what happened along the road.
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Now, they're not able to go through Edom and Edom is a pretty good sized place. So, they have to go and go around Edom. So, they're doing that And this is a story of what happened along the road. Just these first three verses. When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them.
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Oh my. There's a lot of talk about capturing, raiders and capturing, and they just came up to him. They weren't looking for a fight. They're just walking around Edom. And then, king of Arad sends out attackers, attacked the Israelites, and captured some of them.
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Then Israel made this vow to the Lord. If you will deliver these people into our hands, they reach out to God. We'll totally destroy their cities. I don't like that. I'm I'm a New Testament guy.
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I don't like it that we talk so much about destroying cities and whatever but as they're passing through places, their resistance and this is God's chosen people. They're getting to his chosen place for them, and they did turn to God and ask for the victory. It would've been decimated otherwise because these people were already attacking them unprovoked. But the Lord listened to Israel's plea and he gave the Canaanites over to them, and they completely destroyed them and their towns and so the place was named Hormah which has some meaning in Hebrew and so God be praised. He gave him the victory.
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They asked for it and he gave it to them and it was at God's hand. They they had men, women, and children and all of their stuff, and then this approaching army was whipped, and they were able to get through. He gave the victory. That's good. So they traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea to go around Edom, but the people grew impatient on the way.
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Oh, if you did like I did last week and the week before, go back and read the first 20 chapters of Numbers. The first 10, it's about this is the way it's gonna be and they did just as the Lord commanded. And this is the way it's gonna be and they did just as the Lord commanded. Here's a little legal section and this is the way it shall be. When you don't live that way, you'll be able to make atonement this way.
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You'll be able to sacrifice this way and then they did just as lord commanded but when you get to chapter 11, at chapter 11, they say, oh, we're so tired of this. Why'd you bring us out here? And then they do that over and over again. Eleven, twelve, 13. They keep on going all the way up through 20 and we saw that even Moses grew frustrated in chapter 20, right?
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Listen, you rebels. But the people grew impatient on the way and they smoke it, they spoke against God and against Moses and they said, this is a same old song and dance. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Because you were slaves in Egypt. Because I've got a better place for you, but they're not seeing that in the journey.
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They're not seeing that. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread. There is no water. And we detest this miserable food.
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If you do a word study on bread and food there, food is the same word as bread. We have bread, but we don't like it. Have you ever gotten something from God that was good for you that you really just didn't like it? We don't have any food. We don't like the food.
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They grumbled and complained against Moses and against the Lord and actually last week, I thought that the study was about God's glory. I really did and all the way through, I thought it was about God's glory and when I had gotten through the text and the and the talking to that I got afterwards were mostly about grumbling and complaining. So, the miserable food was manna. Manna from heaven provided by God miraculously daily. We don't like it.
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What is it? That's what the name means by the way. What is it? It's food. It's good for you.
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So, here are the four weird verses. It can always get worse by the way. Let me just say, when you're grumbling and complaining about stuff, things can always go from to worse. Then, the Lord sent venomous snakes among them. They bit the people and many Israelites died.
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That's one verse right there. That's a lot in that verse. I typically living in the age of grace and living after having seen the fulfillment of, you know, the revealed Christ in the Old Testament and the, I mean, the concealed Christ in the Old Testament revealed in the new. Me living, I don't see God as a cosmic killjoy with his arm back just ready to slap us down. I don't see that.
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I don't see that in scripture. I see a merciful God but this is the truth. They were complaining a gremlin against God and against Moses and then, the Lord sent venomous snakes among them and they bit the people and many Israelites died. And the people came to Moses and they said, we sent. Amen.
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They confessed their sin We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. They knew that Moses had a special relationship with the Lord and they knew they could see he came down from Sinai. They could see the glory on his face and they knew from his words and they knew from his instruction that God was with him. They saw the spirit of the Lord. They saw people raise up in rebellion against Moses that were smitten by earthquakes and fire from heaven.
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So, they knew that Moses had a special close relationship with God and so they came to him and said, pray. You're our leader. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us and so Moses, we saw last chapter had grown frustrated with these ripples but he learned his lesson. It appears because it says, so Moses prayed for the people. Moses prayed for these rebellious grumbling, complaining people.
38:46
So, Moses prayed for the people and the Lord said to Moses, praise God. He prayed for deliverance. He prayed for the people and the Lord said to Moses, make a snake and put it up on a pole and anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. You see why I call this a weird passage? It's weird.
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For us, we look at that and think, that sounds like voodoo voodoo. That sounds kinda weird. That doesn't sound like something that God would do. That doesn't seem really normal to me. It seems irrational to me, right?
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But Moses haven't learned his lesson. So, Moses did as the Lord commanded. He made a bronze snake and he put it up on a pole and then, when anyone was bitten by a snake and they looked at the bronze snake, they lived. It's a weird story. I'll give you that.
39:45
That's what the story. I'll replay it one more time. Just paraphrasing. They are out there in the wilderness. They got tired and frustrated and they began to grumble and complain against God and against Moses and when they did, the Lord sent venomous snakes among them and they bit the people and some of them died.
40:04
Others of them called out, Moses, pray for us that God would deliver us and he did. God gave him instructions on how this would happen. Okay? And then Moses gave the people what God had commanded, the snake, bronze snake put up on a pole and he put it up there and Moses told the people, anyone of you who looks at it will live. So, he had given him a warning.
40:31
Beware, gods of March. Now, he'd been giving them a warning, right? They already had this but it doesn't make any sense. It's irrational. If you try to figure out sin, it is irrational and it doesn't necessarily repeat in any right order.
40:46
It's just irrational. It's all over the place but it's true and it points towards infinity. They had sorrow for their sin and so they asked him and he said, this is what the Lord has said. You can take him at his word or you can resist at your peril. So, what's the story about if I was a baptist preacher?
41:09
I might say, it's about three S's. Three S's, alliterative points, right? The first S is for sin and I told you that. They spoke against God and Moses. That was that was it.
41:20
Speaking against God, setting yourself up for miserable, miserable existence and then eternity really and against Moses who was being faithful and humble before God. There's no bread, there's no water, and we detest the bread we've got. It's miserable food. The second S is for sorrow. Can you not be sorrowful when you see snakes appear and bite people and then die?
41:46
These are their people. Now, sad. That's incredibly sad and they felt sorrow for that and I would say, when they felt sorrow, they confessed their sin. They confessed their sin and that was a hinge point. When you confess sin, that is a mechanism by which God begins to act.
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They called out, will you? We've sinned against you and against God and will you pray for us and when they called out in faith, that third S is for salvation and in their case, it was temporal but we do have a New Testament record of this and Jesus calls back and makes spiritual application. Since he did, I will. I'm going that direction, okay? Third S is for salvation.
42:25
Anyone who is bitten can look at him and live. That didn't make any sense. That make any sense to me. It's weird but it's the way God made and it's the way that God decreed and if they looked, they lived. So, it was proven to be true after the fact but they had to look up in faith.
42:43
They had to look up. They had to and first of all, they had to believe. Now, when I say that, I go, well, what if they just looked and they didn't believe? You remember Jesus talking to the guy in the New Testament who was healing and the guy says, I would I would be healed. I want for you to heal me and he says, do you believe?
43:00
And the guy answers very honestly. He said, I do believe but help me with my unbelief. Anyone who looked, lived. Anyone who looked, lived. Taste and see.
43:09
This is the way that it is. You can take it or leave it. Moses made a snake, put it on a pole. Anyone who's bitten can look at it and live. So there was seriously, that's it.
43:20
There's no tourniquets involved. There's no sucking the poison out. There's no antivenom. Didn't say lop off whatever limb you're losing because they do that, you know. We've been in places around the world.
43:33
Have ever seen anybody that got snake bit? You've heard of it probably. It's not pretty. I know of somebody that got bit on the finger and it started with a shaking there and it went to a shaking all the way up, and it got to be more and more violent and it would have continued to affect the whole nervous system. Was a neurotoxin in that case.
43:53
In some versions you'll see this as fiery serpent. Fiery can mean red, the color, but it probably means venomous. That's what this New International Version translates to, venomous. But if you don't get an antivenom, it eventually locks your whole nervous system up in the case of a neurotoxin. I don't know that much about snakes, but I know it's not pretty firsthand.
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And I know that it'll increase your prayer life a great deal because people can die. People can die from it, you know. Moses made a bronze snake. He put it up on a pole. So, that's what God said.
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He did just as the Lord commanded and when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at it, the bronze snake they lived. Now, that to me is not rational. Yet, it is. It is what the Lord has said. It is what the Lord has decreed.
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So, atop Mount Nebo, we're about to take a lot of 22 people from this church are going to be going to Israel and I I'm actually leaving not this Monday, but next Monday. Most of them are leaving on Saturday. We're going over. There will be some time spent in Jordan, in Petra. I don't think we're gonna see this up at the top, but we're gonna see it from down below.
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This is atop Mount Nebo. It's in modern day Jordan, not far from where our story takes place. And this is Giovanni Fontoni's serpentine cross, and it is a memorial to two separate events in biblical history. One of them is that snake on that pole that I just talked about from numbers 21 but the other one, Jesus references in John three. If he hadn't done it, I wouldn't do it.
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I promise because I wouldn't bring up a weird story that's kind of like hard to defend, you know? I actually never got this story in Sunday school. Never heard this from anybody else. I don't remember hearing it before I was an adult and I know I read the Bible through a couple of times and I know that I read John multiple times and I don't remember the story. It's just two verses but they lead up to probably the most well known verse in the Bible.
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So, John three, Nicodemus comes at night. Y'all remember this. Nicodemus is a Pharisee. It's before the period of conflict that we get into with the Pharisees being against Jesus. At this point, some of them were already against him but Nicodemus was coming to Jesus earnestly.
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He didn't want for other people to see him. He comes at night and he says, we know that you're from God because nobody can do the things that you do without being from God but we don't understand what's going on and he says, unless a man be born again, born from above, unless a man be born again and cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. You're a teacher of Israel and you don't know these things. And Nicodemus is earnest and I believe that and so Jesus is trying to explain. He says, born again.
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He goes, well, can I go back up in my mother's womb for a second time and be born again? That doesn't make any sense. It's irrational, right? I don't I don't understand that. He goes, well, no.
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You have to be born from above unless you're born of water and the spirit. Oh, the Holy Spirit's entering in here. Same Holy Spirit that had been with Moses. Nicodemus coming at night and earnestly asking, Jesus tells him and one of the descriptors that he uses is in verse 14 leading up to 16, right? Just as in the same way that, thus, just as, in such a way as this, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the son of man must be lifted up.
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That everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. This is the way that God has made and Jesus calls back to that story because there are obvious parallels in the story. Don't make any sense. I get that. How many times have I said the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.
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So, he calls himself son of man here. In the New Testament, Jesus called son of man 80 something times, 80 something times. He's called the son of man. It points to his humanity. It does do that.
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Ezekiel over and over and over in the Old Testament referred to himself as son of man, and that points to his humanity. But it's more than that. The capital S son of capital M man is about Jesus's unique role and that points back to another Old Testament passage in Daniel seven where he's talking about the son of man coming on clouds in glory and he speaks of this righteous one. When he says, the son of man, that's me. It's a veiled way of saying, me.
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Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the son of man, I must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. And that's the way God made. So, Jesus was lifted up. He's lifted up on the cross, Calvary so that everyone who believe in him may have eternal life and that's the way that God made. So, temporally in the Moses and the Israelite story, they had their earthly life cut short by snakes.
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Spiritually speaking, we are all, we all begin life snake bit. We all start off that way and we are in peril. But eternal life is available if we will trust in the way that God has made. Cornelius Van Till, you ever heard of this guy? Philosopher from the mid twentieth century.
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I think he's Dutch but I'm not positive. That's Cornelius Van Till would point that direction. I think he's Dutch. Usually, you see the green. If you ever hear this quote, you just see the green but I'm going read you the whole little quote there.
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Christians are in themselves no wiser than our other men. I think we would do well to admit that. We're not smarter necessarily than other people. Christians are in themselves no wiser than other men. What they have, they have by grace.
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Amen. God has given each a measure of faith and where we place it matters. Christians are in themselves no wiser than other men. What they have, they have by grace. They must, as Paul says, be all things to all men But it is not kindness to tell patients that need strong medicine that nothing serious is wrong with them.
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We stand snake bit. We stand in peril. Right? And I'm mixing my metaphors a little bit because they didn't call for strong medicine in that desert. It was just trust the Lord.
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But that strong medicine is somebody who wants to trust himself, right? It is not kindness to tell patients that need strong medicine that nothing serious is wrong with them. It happens all the time. Christians are bound to tell men the truth about themselves. That is the only way of bringing them to recognize the mercy and the compassion of Christ.
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If you don't believe that you're snake bit, you're not looking for a remedy. Does that make sense? If you look and you say, how can sin even be such a thing? It's irrational. It's irrational but it goes on and on and on into eternity and You can go with it into eternity, a very, very, very bad eternity.
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Christians are bound to tell men the truth about themselves, to give them that warning, beware. That's the only way of bringing them to recognize the mercy and the compassion of Christ. For if men are told the truth about themselves, I can say the truth about themselves as revealed in the Bible. If men are told the truth about themselves and if they are warned against the false remedies that establish men in their wickedness, then, by the power of the spirit of God, they will flee to the Christ through whom alone they must be saved. I know that the exclusivity of the gospel is a stumbling block for our society.
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It is. But if you're snake bit, in faith, do whatever it is that God has provided. If you resist, it's to your peril and that's the same way it was and a lot of Israelites died for lack of faith. Putting forth any faith. They'll flee to Christ through whom alone.
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There is no other way. That's the way that God has decreed. So, the three S's are still the same. There's sin and there's sorrow. I could put in their confession but it doesn't fit the literative scheme.
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And then there's salvation. So 03/16, 03/16. I heard actually it was on Caleb the other day. They said, we need to celebrate three sixteen day. Hey, why don't we think of that?
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You're celebrating pie day in the eyes of March and Saint Patrick's Day but 03/16 is just in the midst of all of those and three sixteen being John three sixteen. Can we go to that verse? I just want to read it. For God so, in this way, in such a way as this, this is the way that God loved the world that he gave his own one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That's the gospel.
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One verse right there. And that's the way that God has made and so, I've got a buddy named Alan Levi. Some of you all read some of his books and some of you all heard some of his music, but I'm gonna let him do a little clip. It's three minutes and twenty nine seconds.
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And so Once upon a time, only once for a short while in the history of the world, God who had created all things became one of us. Born a baby to a common woman, grown a child in a common town, employed at common labor and spending his life with common people. He took a name, Jesus, and walked among us inviting, welcoming, at times pleading with us to return to God and to love the right things in the right way. Few of us listened, and eventually, as you know, we killed him. We whipped him almost to death, drove nails through his hands, and made him hang on a wooden cross until he died, all because he was guilty of calling us to love God and to love one another.
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Maybe you wonder, what's with the cross? Why is that such a big deal to the followers of Christ? Why can't we just be nice to each other, sing songs on Sunday, feed the poor, and skip all that part about Jesus dying on the cross? I'll be honest with you. It is rather difficult, especially for our twenty first century minds, to grasp the necessity of Jesus' death.
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After all, I suppose that God could have waved a wand or issued a blanket pardon to humanity, but that's not what he did. Instead, from the very start, when we defied God and ate the forbidden fruit, you know, the Adam and Eve story, God said that there must be justice, a payment of a penalty. Now it might seem cruel to us, and it is cruel, but sacrifice was the means of rescue that God established from the outset. For thousands of years, the people brought animals to God, bulls, goats, lambs, doves. But none of those was ever fully acceptable to make things right.
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They were just a symbolic and temporary remedy of sorts until an adequate payment could be made for our sin. What the animal offerings really did was point to Jesus, who would one day come as the one and only sacrifice that God would accept once and for all. In short, it's through the cross that Jesus rescues the world. Well, maybe you say, I still don't get it. Maybe we're not supposed to get it.
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Maybe the cross is something that we merely accept by faith whether we fully understand it or approve of it or not. The cross is not a place for argument with God, but rather a place of surrender and humility for us. We have to simply confess that Jesus' death was my fault, that it was made necessary by my sin, that it had to happen because nothing else could fix the fall, not education, morality, government, therapy. If we're to be forgiven and accepted by God, it will be on his terms. And his terms, quite simply, take it or leave it, are that we trust him and receive his means of salvation, Jesus on the cross.
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It is a pure gift. And in a very real sense, Aaron, when Jesus died, everyone of us was there.
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Amen. I'm going invite the frontline team if you would come forward. We're going go into the time of the Lord's supper right now. And if you have placed your faith in Christ and you've looked to him as the way, then you may partake. This is an open table but if you have and I would give you a strong warning not to.
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Don't pretend. We're gonna celebrate right now the fact that we need a savior, that we are sinful people, a sinful past, but we've come to a place of sorrow and confession, and we look to Jesus alone for our salvation and I should say, sanctification. Oh, rock of ages. We sang it last week. Let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flow be of sin, the double cure, save from wrath, salvation, and make me pure, sanctification.
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So, lord, we come right now and we ask you that you would bless each one who would partake today recognizing that you are the way, the truth, and the life and lord, if there be anyone here present that is not going to partake today because they do not believe. I pray that those of us present that do believe would be able to make a difference in their life. We'd be able to defend the gospel and point them towards looking up to Jesus. Lift him up. In Jesus name, would you bless this?
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Little cracker is a representation of Christ's body given for us. Amen. So, on the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper and after giving thanks, he said to his disciples over there with him, say today that he says, this is my body. It was broken for you. Take this and eat and do it in remembrance of me.
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God, we thank you for your provision of Jesus as the way and Jesus, we thank you for living out that perfect life and having no sin debt of your own to be able to give your innocent blood as a ransom for many. Lord, it's not for all. It's for many, for those who believe. So, God, I thank you for that provision. I pray lord that we would trust in you in your sacrifice for salvation and lord for sanctification.
1:01:40
Would you bless this cup as we distribute it? Amen. And in the same way that he had taken the bread, he took the cup after supper and he told his disciples there with him. This is the new covenant in my blood. This is the difference in the temporal and the spiritual.
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This is the difference in the way that God deals with us. This is not a covenant of works. Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen.
1:04:23
Paul says that in this way, we proclaim the death of the Lord till he shall come again and it is in the death of the savior that our life may be found. This morning, we had a little commissioning time and I want you all to know, Richard and Andrea Largie are going to Ghana, Africa. We did just get back from Kenya. They're going back to a different ministry in Ghana and we had both the elders and the missions committee members come up on stage and lay hands on them as we commission them to go go and do God's word but can we pray for em right here right now too? God, thank you for those who have taken you seriously in their own life and have looked to you for salvation lord but I I take special consideration right now lord to pray for those who are going to share the truth of your gospel, to share the truth of our sinful state and share the the hope of salvation in Christ and in Christ alone.
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I pray that you would make for an effective time with Richard and Andrea and Ghana that all of the kids that they minister to and parents and families, everyone around them, lord, would be touched. I do pray for their safety and temporal safety but more than that. I pray for their boldness as they speak the truth in love and concern for our fellow human beings. In Jesus name, would you make them fruitful for your glory in Jesus name. Amen.
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And for our benediction today, I know that it's weird. Like I said, I know that that's a weird set of verses. I understand that but it's the way that God made and it's a simple enough that a child can understand it, right? Yeah, I'll take that. I remember witnessing it.
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Actually, there were two boy scouts that came in and they they were sitting on each side of the table and I was talking to him and they wanted a badge that was the religious badge from a baptist pre you know, and so, they came in and they asked about it and I went to the gospel and there's one of them that's a church kid and there was one of them that wasn't and when I asked him, I said, so what's the story? After I'd shared the whole gospel, he said, be nice to my little sister and
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do this and do that and do this.
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The church kid did. The other guy said, well, you said, is Jesus on the cross, right? I said, yeah, he said, I'll take that. Amen. Trust in the Lord with your all your heart.
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Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Submit to him and he will make your path straight. In Jesus name, amen. We're supposed to sing again, aren't we? Yeah, would you all stand up?
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Sorry.
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Take my life.
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Okay. So, we don't get it right every time. Like I said, it's irrational. It goes on forever.
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So, would y'all just sing the doxology with me? Praise God from whom all blessings flow Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and
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holy ghost Amen.
