Priest Becomes Sacrifice

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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The text for our meditation tonight is taken from the

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Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11 through 14. But when

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Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation he entered once and for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood thus securing an eternal redemption for the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living

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God in the name of Jesus this Lenten tide we have looked at the paradoxes regarding Christ how the lawgiver kept the law for us how the

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Creator joined his creation and tonight we will consider how Christ our great high priest also is our sacrifice now when we think about blood it's actually quite awful

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I have several profoundly awful memories pertaining to blood

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I remember when I was a young father and my daughter Christina was a toddler that the two of my children

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I only had two at the time were watching television Josh that would be a great idea to pull the television out of the wall unit and well it landed on Christina's finger and took the tip of it just right off and it was horrifyingly awful aside from the blood curling scream and Barbara absolutely freaking out there was blood everywhere there was blood on the carpet there was blood in bars hair there was blood in my eyes it was blood on our clothes it was blood on the couch there was blood in the kitchen there was blood in the bathroom seriously

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I did not realize she had that much blood in her I'm surprised she didn't die and it's a terrible terrible memory and then

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I think about the one time a family member of ours had a very terrible accident and cut herself and and she was not in the right state of mind to deal with her wound and she ended up in the hospital and we ended up cleaning up all the blood off of her floor out of her couch out of her and I come to the conclusion that blood absolutely smells awful

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I never want to smell blood again and see this is the thing is that scripture over again has this interesting refrain the life is in the blood and that apart from blood sacrifice there is no remission of sins and see the scriptures really make it clear that when it comes to our sin it's not a slip see it's not an oopsie it's not a mistake it's not a well it's a full -blown transgression against God's law and you can't cover it up with fig leaves or as my father used to say you can't put any lipstick on that pig it won't work and so today as we consider this paradox that Christ our

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High Priest is also our sacrifice I'd like to spend a little bit of time in the

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Old Testament and believe me what we're going to go through in Leviticus 16 is a bloody affair and there's just no way to clean this up this is the awfulness of atoning for our transgressions against God we're in Leviticus chapter 16 this is where we'll begin our study here's what it says starting at verse 1

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Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they drew near before the

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Lord and died yeah they brought unauthorized fire and God killed them tell

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Aaron your brother do not come at any time into the holy place inside the veiled see the tabernacle had been created there is now an altar of sacrifice they have the holy of holies you have the holy place you have the outer court you have all of these well if you would the the machine is in place now for all of the animal sacrifices of the

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Old Testament and well Aaron's sons got a little zealous enthusiastic if you would and did not obey

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God and came up with their own unique way of worshiping God which God did not accept and they found themselves dead so God is letting

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Aaron and Moses no no this is a serious thing this dealing with sin thing and don't think for a second you can just kind of wing it there's very specific things that need to happen in very specific ways we're dealing with transgressions against a holy and a just God so tell your brother

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Aaron not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat that is on the ark so that he may not die for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat but in this way

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Aaron shall come into the holy place with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering he shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment in his on his body and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist and wear the linen turban these are the holy garments he shall bathe his body in water and then put them on he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering

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Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and then shall make atonement for himself and then for his house see before Aaron can actually make an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people he has to first deal with his own sin we're gonna get you taken care of first get you cleaned up you forgiven and now that you're forgiven now we can talk about you taking care of the sacrifices for the rest of the people so he shall take the two goats set them before the

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Lord at the entrance of the tent and meeting meeting Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats one for the

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Lord and the other for Azazel interesting Azazel tough thing to translate into English a lot of ink spilled on this one to think of it this way you can almost say is one lot for heading out send it out to the devil to the demons now pause with me for a second here if you remember

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Jesus on Good Friday right there he is on trial and pilot decides he has this great idea he's going to see if he can't get

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Jesus off the hook so he brings out Barabbas Barabbas in Aramaic means son of the father think that one through for a second okay who do you want released to you

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Barabbas or Jesus who is called the king of the Jews we want

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Barabbas we want Barabbas so here you'll notice in Leviticus 16 ones for the

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Lord the others for the devil just work it out so one is the scapegoat the other is the sacrifice do the math on this you see it starts to all come together

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Old Testament type and shadow New Testament reality so we even see this then playing out in Jesus's own crucifixion

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Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord use it as a sin offering but the goat on which the lot fell shall be presented alive before the

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Lord to make atonement over it that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself shall make atonement for himself for his house he shall kill the bull bulls are huge they're not small this is a big animal he shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the

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Lord two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small he shall bring it inside the veil put the incense on the fire before the

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Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony so that he does not die yeah makes you wonder if he took a pen and wrote down the steps on his hand so he knew what to do next because it sounds like one misstep in this very elaborate religious right would lead to the death of the person doing the work oh and that's exactly what happened yeah that happened to quite a few fellows so much so that by the time of Jesus they had a custom then for the guys who had to go in and do the work behind the curtain in the

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Holy of Holies you put a rope around their feet one of their foot feet and they had little jingle bells at the bottom of their ephod and as long as you heard the jingle bells jingling jingling you knew the fellow was still alive but if you heard chink and then silence pull the rope because if you went in there if you went in there to get his carcass out then there would be two dead uh -huh this is rather well it's dark if you think about it all right so that he does not die he shall take some of the blood of the bull sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is in the people that is for the people bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions all their sins and so he shall do for the tent of meeting which dwells so he knows he has to make a sacrifice for the tent of meeting itself right all of this blood leading up to the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins there's literally blood everywhere how these guys kept their ephods white is beyond me all right thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because the uncleanness of the people of Israel because of their transgressions all of their sins and so he shall do for the tent of meeting which dwells with him in the midst of their uncleanness no one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all of the assembly of Israel and then he shall go out to the altar that is before the

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Lord and make atonement for it and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar all around and he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the people of Israel there is literally blood everywhere at this point and when he had made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar he shall present the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands on its head and the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins and he shall put them on the head of the goat and set it away into the wilderness by the hand of the man who is in readiness the goat shall bear all their inequities on itself to a remote area and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness so then

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Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting shall take off the linen garments that he had put on when he went to the holy place he shall leave them there and he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and all the people and the fat of the sin offering and he shall burn on the altar and he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes bathes his body in water and afterwards he may come into the camp and the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place shall be carried outside the camp their skin their flesh their dung shall all be burned up with fire and he who burns them shall wash his clothes bathe his body in water and afterwards he may come into the camp what a mess this is this is ridiculous and it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month you shall afflict yourselves you shall do no work neither the native nor the stranger who sojourns among you for on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you you shall be clean before the

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Lord from all of your sins it is a Sabbath a solemn rest to you you shall afflict yourselves it is a statute forever and the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father's place shall make atonement wearing the holy linen garments he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar and he shall make atonement for the priest and all the people of the assembly when

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I was a kid Disneyland used to have an attraction called the Country Bear Jamboree and there was this one bear that sang a song that everyone thought was just ridiculously hilarious but it comes to mind as I work my way through these texts and the song went blood on the sidewalk blood on the ground there was blood all around it's just blood everywhere and this isn't even what's well atoned for our sins it's far worse more dire than that all of that was type and shadow now if you'll turn with me we're gonna consider two portions of the book of Hebrews starting in chapter 7 verse 1 here's what the book of Hebrews says regarding Melchizedek that's kind of how you work it out in Hebrew Melchizedek he was the king of Salem priest of the

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Most High God he met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him and him and to him

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Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything listen to this about Melchizedek he is first by translation of his name

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King of Righteousness and then he is also King of Salem or Shalom which is

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King of Peace he is without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning of days nor end of life but resembling the

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Son of God he continues as a priest forever now if you remember there then in the book of Genesis you have well lot taken captive by these kings who attacked

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Sodom and Gomorrah and these other kings and he's he's taken off his spoil he and his family and what is

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Abram do he and as he gets 300 and something men together and they go and they attack these kings and they prevail and they release them and bring him back and they've got all the spoils of the city and as he's coming back to town with all of these captives that he's set free hmm seem to recall something about a guy who sets captives free but that's a different story all together as he's doing this appeared out of nowhere appears this fellow that we never see again there he is

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Melchizedek you we call him Melchizedek Melchizedek and it says that he has two things in his hands bread and wine this is what it says in Genesis about no

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Melchizedek you sit there and go bread wine he's priest of God Most High and he blesses

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Abram he's blessed by God Most High and what does Abram do he tithes a tenth of the spoils he gives it to Melchizedek priest of God Most High and then

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Melchizedek whoosh disappears never to be seen or heard from again until right here and here the inspired author of Hebrews tells us that Melchizedek is without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning of days or end of life hmm that sounds a lot like Jesus and in our catechism last night

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I told I told the kids in catechism I said it's if you look through the Old Testament you're gonna see

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Jesus all over the place because he's constantly photobombing all of the stories you know what a photobomb is there's somebody to make me and maybe taking a picture with his wife in front of the

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Eiffel Tower and one of the tourists walking by goes you know it right it right as they snap the picture that's a photobomb so there's

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Jesus he's photobombing all throughout the Old Testament and Melchizedek nothing no one less than Jesus himself that's exactly what this is saying so the text continues see how this great man was to whom

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Abraham the Patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils and those descendants of Levi who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people that is from their brothers though these also are descended from Abraham but this man who does not have his descent from them he received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises it is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior in the one case tithes are received by mortal men but in the other case by one of whom it is testified that he lives one might even say that Levi himself who receives tithes paid tithes through Abraham for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when

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Melchizedek met him now if perfection had been attainable through the

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Levitical priesthood which is what we just read about there in Leviticus chapter 16 it's the

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Levitical priesthood the descendants of Levi who are the priests in the tabernacle which eventually becomes the temple he says now perfection had been attainable through the

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Levitical priesthood for under it the people received the law what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than one named after the order of Aaron for when there is a change in the priesthood there is necessarily a change in the law as well for the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe from which no one has ever served at the altar for it is evident that our

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Lord was descended from Judah and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests and if you know your

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Old Testament history well you will know well King Uzziah you've heard of King Uzziah in the year the

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King Uzziah died I saw the Lord high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple we know this passage is from Isaiah but do you know the story of King Uzziah this is a fellow who decided that because he was the king of Israel he could do whatever he wanted to do and he went into the temple itself to offer sacrifices and the priest tried to stop him because you're not supposed to do that the

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Levites are the one who offered the sacrifices you're a king you're from the tribe of Judah get out of here he refused and God struck him made him leprous the rest of his life so here we have this text telling us that from the tribe of Judah is the one who comes who is our high priest so this becomes more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life for it is witnessed of him you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek for on the one hand the former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and its uselessness for the law made nothing perfect listen to that the law made nothing perfect the law still makes nothing perfect but on the other hand a better hope is introduced through which we now draw near to God and it was not without an oath for those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him the

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Lord has sworn and will not change his mind you are a priest forever so this makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office just like pastors but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever consequently he is able to save to the utmost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them you see this is important Jesus is not only

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King he's not only prophet he's also priest and he is the one who intercedes for us makes intercession for us that's what priests do for it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest holy innocent unstained separate from sinners and exalted above the heavens he has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily first for his own sins and then for those of the people since he did this once and for all when he offered himself for the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests but the word of the oath which came later than the law appoints a son who has been made perfect forever and so here we've read that Jesus is our high priest he is not a descendant of Levi he's a descendant of Judah and he has been made a priest forever in the order not of Levi and Aaron but of Melchizedek because well he was

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Melchizedek and is Melchizedek it's kind of weird when you start trying to do the math on it your brain will blow up but we know this about priests priests offer sacrifices if you're gonna have a priest you need a sacrifice go grab a lamb tada there's your solution priest sacrifice should work out perfectly but this priest is not like any priest ever because this priest who is perfect who makes intercession for us who has an indestructible life this priest offers himself as the sacrifice

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I don't know of any priest who's ever done such a thing as this it doesn't make any sense because it's paradoxical this goes into the category of Jesus is the

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Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end the first and the last the lawgiver who keeps the law for us the creator who joins his creation the

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Lord of life who dies the priest who is the sacrifice you see because Christ is all in all but he's not just all in all so we sit there and go you're the man

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Jesus no he's all in all for you and for me so that we can be forgiven of our transgressions so that we can be reconciled to God so that we can truly have peace with our

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Father in heaven and have peace with each other to be freed from the curse so that we can finally live forever new heavens new earth and so our text from the beginning of the service

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Hebrews 9 11 but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come then to the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation he entered once and for all into the places not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood thus securing an eternal redemption for the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctified for the purification of the flesh how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offer himself without blemish to God purify our consciences from dead works to serve the living

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God this is all gospel and when you consider the magnitude of this love this kind of action the great lengths that God went through to write into history his own story of how he redeems us in all of these wonderful faceted ways the priest who becomes the sacrifice that's only part of the story and there's so much more that we can tell how then this demonstrates

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God's great love for us because rather than telling us what we all deserve to hear be gone to hell with you into the lake of fire with the devil and all of his angels because of your lawlessness because of your sin and your rebellion no this priest who intercedes for us he becomes the sacrifice so that we can live so that we can be well have our consciences purified so that we can serve the living

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God so that we can be forgiven reconciled made new and have hope hope what an idea what a thought and when you consider the magnitude and the great works of God for us our high priest who is our sacrifice you and I can dare to hope hope for a better world hope for the forgiveness of sins hope for the vindication of Christ hope for his return not fearing his judgment hope for the day when we will all see each other face -to -face new heavens new earth new resurrected bodies no longer in the now in the not yet when we will no longer worship

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God by faith and not by sight but we will worship him by sight because we have a sacrifice that has he secured for us an eternal redemption it can't be undone there is nothing more precious in the universe than the blood of Jesus and yet that is exactly what was shed to secure your salvation and mine

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Jesus friend of sinners indeed in the name of Jesus I'm in if you would like to support the teaching ministry of comes very

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Lutheran church you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to comes very Lutheran church 15950 470th

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Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744 and again that address is comes very

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Lutheran church 15950 470th