Ezra's Memorial

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This was the memorial service for Ezra Soterio Perez held on September 5th, 2014.

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Morning. If you would, join me in prayer. God, we come to you now before you with a heart that clings only to you.
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God, our soul trusts in you. Lord, we acknowledge you now as the giver of life.
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We acknowledge you now as the one who controls all things, and we trust you.
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God, meet us in this moment of deepest, deepest pain. God, lift up our eyes to you.
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Let us see where our help comes from. God, you, the maker of heaven and earth. God, grant to us now eyes that see your power,
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God, and your control over all things. God, you, the one who declares the end from the beginning. Lord Jesus, we fall before you now.
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Lord, you are our only hope. Jesus, we come to you acknowledging,
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God. Lord, your love for us. God, that we are in your hands,
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Lord Jesus, and you said you will never lose us. And we acknowledge now, Lord, your love for Ezra.
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And Lord, we take delight in the fact, God, that he is in your hands, and we trust you.
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Lord, allow us now to worship you, God, with pain mingled with joy and trust and peace.
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In Jesus' name, amen. John chapter 6,
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God became a man. He walked among us. God stepped into this suffering and this pain to chase the rebels, to give them life.
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He came and He suffered among us. He was around death. He attended funerals.
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He raised the dead, and He raised Himself. And Jesus promised,
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I want you to hear it today, John 6, 35. Jesus said to them,
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I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
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But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the
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Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me
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I will never cast out. For I've come down from heaven not to do my will, my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.
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And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
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For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks in the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise
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Him up at the last day. One of the things that makes
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Jesus so glorious in moments of deep pain like this is that He's the only one that provides the answer to this deepest pain.
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He's the one that demonstrated His power over death. He raised a little boy from the dead, raised a little girl from the dead.
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He raised Himself from the dead. You can hope in Him. He is the one who raises the dead, and our hope is in Him.
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Let's pray. Father, I want to pray that You would bless us now, God, as we celebrate and we mourn
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Ezra's life. God, His very name, Soterio, means salvation.
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And Lord, I plead with You this moment, God, that You would draw Your people out of the world today, that they would see
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You clearly, God, that His namesake, God, would be true today. That, Lord, You would bring salvation in this moment.
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Lord, that You would turn beauty from ashes and bring light into darkness.
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Lord, our soul trusts in You. In Jesus' name, amen. I wouldn't have you in this life.
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I would have never let you go, just held you close. One of the few things that really matter to me most.
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Seems unfair, how life treats us down here. We grow attached to the very people that can disappear.
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I would do anything to have you back again. One more smile, just one more kiss, to hear you cry when you don't get your way.
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I never knew to cherish that, and now it seems too late. At least it feels that way.
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I'll never forget. I'll keep holding on until I see you again. You give and You take, through it all.
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I will chase after Your heart, not Your hand. When my heart don't understand,
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I will go chasing You, trusting
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You, hoping You forever.
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Facing You, trusting You, hoping
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You forever. In the morning,
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I would play with You. A smile would be the only thing to help me make it through. So many things
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I want to say to You, but I guess that heaven couldn't wait for You. I dreamed of a life that would last past mine.
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Now, when I wake up, I wish that I could stop time. He gives and takes away. What more can
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I say? I just trust and hope that He'll make everything okay. I know there's never been a day that He didn't love me.
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Even now it's hard to see, but He's there above me. And every time I think about it,
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I know You're with Him. So I'll keep holding on till I see You again. You give and You take, through it all.
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I will chase after Your heart, not Your hand. When my heart don't understand,
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I will go chasing You, trusting
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You, hoping You forever.
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Facing You, trusting You, hoping
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You forever, forever. So I want to read to you what
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Christian and Esther wanted me to put on here about Ezra.
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It says, Our most earnest prayer from the time he was born was that anyone affected by Ezra's life, those who knew him and those who didn't, would experience peace that comes through salvation in Jesus Christ.
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Thank you for helping us, Son. Thank you for helping others enjoy Christ as you were designed to love
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Daddy, Mommy, and Judah. His name, Soterio, comes from the word where we get soteriology in theology.
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It just means salvation, study of salvation. And the verse that Christian wanted you guys to see and as representative of Ezra's life was
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Isaiah 62. And if I could just be transparent with you for a moment here,
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I know there's one thing that Christian and Esther want from this moment right now, and that's for you to know
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Christ. That's the most important thing on their hearts, and that's what they asked me to convey, is that in this time of deep, deep pain, you would see the light of salvation in Jesus Christ, and you would come to know
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Him. Death is a terrible thing. As Christians, you can embrace it as terrible.
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Only as a Christian, ultimately, you can embrace this moment as real pain, as very, very bad. Something is really wrong.
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As a Christian, you can embrace that. Something hurts here. Something is not right.
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You should embrace that. But at the same time, as a Christian, you know the hope you have, the guaranteed assurance you have and I have and Ezra has in God, peace with God, forgiveness and salvation.
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That's the ultimate, and Christian and Esther want you to know salvation.
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They named their son Salvation. That's what they wanted his name to convey, and that's what they want his life to mean, and it does.
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I'm going to read to you the verse, okay? So you guys can hang loose. I'm sure most of you didn't bring your Bibles today. That's okay. I'll read it to you.
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Isaiah 62, written about 700 years before Christ walked among us.
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It says, Isaiah 62.
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I don't think a lot of us realize just the significance of that passage in the light of what's happening here right now in this moment with this cross behind me and the songs we just sang.
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That's Isaiah 62. It's a promise long before the coming of Christ that God would not rest, that God would keep his promises, that he would not fail to bring salvation to sinful people, and that that salvation would go to all the nations.
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This text right now about salvation is about right now. It's this moment right here.
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It's a room filled with people from different backgrounds, different origins, different colors right now in one room following after, right now, a single point of pain hearing this message about God keeping his promises and about salvation.
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Right before Isaiah 62 is a story in 61. I'll read it to you, and you can tell me if this sounds familiar to you.
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So listen closely. This is Isaiah 61, and keep in mind the time this was written, about 700 years before Jesus, and you can tell me if it sounds familiar to you.
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Isaiah 61, just before Ezra's verse. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the
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Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the
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Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes.
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The oil of gladness instead of mourning. The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit that they may be called oaks of righteousness.
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And further in 61, listen to God's promise. I will greatly rejoice in the
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Lord. My soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.
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He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and a bride adorns herself with her jewels, so the
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Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before the nations. Okay, listen. There's a whole background to this story of this moment of death.
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Can I say something to you? In these deep moments of pain and death, when we actually touch what we try to always avoid, you must run to God, not run from him.
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Because the truth is, it's only with him and with his story that we can make any sense of this pain.
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God calls what's happening in this moment, death, not good. When he created the world, he created it good.
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And he created us, you and I, Ezra, to be an intimate relationship of peace with him.
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He creates the world with the plan to bless his creation, to give his image into the world, to delight in his image, us, and for us to take pleasure and delight in him.
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That's the story. But the story starts getting bad when we rebel against God.
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And as a result of that rebellion against God, we taste all of this brokenness. This is disharmonious right now.
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This is painful. You deserve to cry. This moment is meaningful.
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It's not meaningless. It's not good. And with God and with his story and his truth, you can embrace all this pain right now, and it can be meaningful.
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Run to him, not away from him. Only with him can you make sense of this pain. Because he calls this not good.
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Death is not good. But the beautiful story behind Isaiah, you need to hear this, is a story of God who's actually going to send someone to redeem all of this mess.
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And the story in Isaiah 9, you know the story you've got on your Christmas cards usually. Isaiah 9, 6, it says that there's going to be a son given to us, a child born, and his name will be called
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Wonderful Counselor. And listen closely to who it is, El Gibor, which means the mighty
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God, the father of eternity. God himself was going to cover himself in flesh, was going to humble himself as a baby, as a child.
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He was going to be dependent like you and I are. He was going to walk among sickness like you and I do.
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He was going to taste death like you and I do. Not just his own death, and you need to embrace this right now.
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Not just his own death. When you come to him and you cling to him, you have an answer for why this hurts so much, and also you have an answer as to how you can come to a
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God in a world that's so filled with hurt and brokenness and pain, because this is the God who actually takes on flesh, and he walks among us.
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And Jesus attends the funeral of a little girl. Can I ask you to think deeply about something right now?
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I'm not pointing you to a God who is far off. I'm not pointing you to a God who's an absentee landlord.
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I'm pointing you to the God who actually enters into our pain, sits at the bedside of a little girl with the family weeping around this little girl.
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That's not the end of the story, though. Jesus says to this little girl words.
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He says, little girl, arise. And she lives.
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A man, his son was sick and was dying, and he comes to Jesus, and he wants Jesus to heal his son, and Jesus just has to utter a word.
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He just has to say something, and everything changes. The whole story changes. Death turns into life again.
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That's the story of Jesus, God becoming man to actually chase the rebels, and that's where this story doesn't make any sense and where you need to listen.
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And I know what Christian and Esther right now have been praying for me as a pastor to say to you is this, is that the problem in this story is us.
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We're the rebels, and what doesn't make any sense is that this good
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God who is perfect and holy and who is love would come to chase rebels like me and like you.
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That he would enter into this world of death and fallenness and disharmonious relationships and all of the rebellion, and he would actually come and he would condescend to come and chase us in his love to redeem us from our sins because here's the problem.
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Why does God in the person of Christ take on flesh? Here's why, because God is good, and I'm not.
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Because God is holy, and we're not. Because God is righteous and good, and we're not.
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And the maddening part of this story is despite those truths, God takes on flesh and love for the rebels, and he chases them, and he loves them, and he brings forgiveness and salvation to them.
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Can we all admit something? This is the worst of life, isn't it?
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This is the deepest possible pain. It doesn't get worse than this, and we try to hide ourselves from this moment constantly, don't we?
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And this moment that we're in right now has the ability to focus our minds and to bring us back with our eyes firmly fixed on reality and the truth of Jesus.
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Jesus, when he comes among us to bring salvation, this whole story is that he would come to take our death, that he would be pierced through for our transgressions, that he'd be crushed for our iniquities.
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You ask the question right now, why, God? Where are you in this moment?
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It's okay to ask that. Where are you right now? And the answer is really clear.
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Not only has God ordained this very moment for his purposes and for our good, but if you want to know where God is,
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God is 2 ,000 years ago dying on a tree for sinners. That's where God is.
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And in conquering that death, and in conquering that death, displaying to you and I, he has power over death, he will raise the dead.
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Jesus raises the dead right now. When you come to him and you turn from sin to trust in him, to come and die with him and rise from the dead, when you come to Christ, he washes your sins away, and you are raised from death to life right now.
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Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my voice and believes in him who has sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
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That's already right now. But Jesus also promises us, brothers and sisters, friends that are visiting today, he promises us that on the last day,
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Jesus will raise the dead. When Jesus was at the bedside of a little girl, and he said, little girl, arise, that tells you and I that Jesus said to Ezra, arise.
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You want to know just how powerful he is and his ability to answer this moment of darkest pain? Look to the cross.
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Look at Jesus raising the dead, speaking light into darkness. Jesus is our hope, and I want to tell you a story that I think many of you are probably familiar with, but it does speak to this moment in ways that I can't think of any other text speaking to, because you ask the question,
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God, where are you? Where are you? What happened? And we know from scripture,
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God's word, his promise to us with guaranteed assurance is that God declares the end from the beginning, and he causes all things to work together for good, to those who love him, to those who are called according to his purpose, including calling
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Ezra home. And in John chapter 11 is the death of Lazarus.
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It's a moment quite like this, if you think about it. It really is this moment.
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You say, what would God do? How would he respond as a man if he were among us right now? What would
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God be like now, here, with these tears, with this pain?
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What would he be like? And this is your answer, if you want to know where he is.
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Verse 17 of chapter 11 of John. And when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
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Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha. Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
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So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out and met him. But Mary remained seated in the house.
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Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now
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I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.
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Martha said to him, I know that he'll rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.
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Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
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Do you believe this? Now I have to stop there. Think about the similarities of that moment to this.
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Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. How many of you guys have thought that the last week?
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And the amazing thing is that Jesus knew all along that he would raise
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Lazarus from the dead. But he wanted to come and meet them in that pain.
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He wanted to come to display to them he had power over it. And he wanted to come to display to them the victory he would have over it.
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And so Jesus says this, and I want you to answer the question right now, if you would. Jesus said to her,
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I am the resurrection and the life. I am. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.
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And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And here's the question.
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Do you believe this? That's the question you have to answer right now.
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Jesus knew what he was going to do and did raise Lazarus from the dead, not before weeping in the midst of the greatest brokenness.
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He knew what he was going to touch and he still wept. God weeps in these moments. What is God like in these moments?
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He weeps in these moments with us. God is in control. He's sovereign and he will be glorified and he will raise the dead.
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But when God tastes this broken world, God weeps among us in the midst of his control over it.
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And the question Jesus asks you right now is do you believe this? Listen, this is good news.
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That term we're jaded to in our culture. Gospel, gospel, gospel. It gets kicked around a lot and we just sort of get jaded to that word.
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But the word comes from Isaiah 61 where it says the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news. Listen, it was good news in the midst of pain then too.
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When everyone who was with Jesus saw him broken on a tree, murdered and torn into pieces, it was still good news in the midst of that pain.
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It was good news because Jesus conquered it and you might be asking the question what's the significance of this moment and this death and all that we think through right now where death finally creeps into our eyes and we actually now face it as we are right now and death begins to actually focus our minds as it is right now in your lives.
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What's the story? The story is the Bible teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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That there is none righteous, not even one, none who seeks for God. That's the answer.
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That's the answer to all this. That's the answer to this brokenness. That's the answer to this death.
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That's the answer to this pain. That's the answer is us. We're the rebels. And the
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Bible teaches that despite being rebels and despite the fact that the wages of sin is death because God is good and we're not, that God demonstrates his love for us and that while we were yet sinners,
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Christ died for us. If you had one moment of your life, just one, to take a step back and to think through your life and this world and what's really true and what's really going on around us, it's this moment.
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And the Bible teaches very clearly, Jesus taught, whoever has the son has the life.
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Whoever does not have the son does not have the life but the wrath of God abides in him. And Jesus promised us, every single one of us, that if you believe in him, you have eternal life.
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There is no coming to this God with any good deeds. Nothing.
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The Bible says that all of our sins are as filthy, all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Our sin has completely broken our ability to climb to God.
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But that demonstrates the power of this moment, doesn't it? In the midst of all this death, in the midst of all this brokenness, in the midst of all this sin and rebellion, this
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God condescends and he saves us. He takes our death and he conquers it in victory and he calls you to come to him.
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He calls you to turn from sin, to come and to trust in him and in him alone for forgiveness and salvation.
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He died and he rose again and you can come to him now. Ezra's name, his middle name meant, means salvation.
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And so there's the question today is how will you respond to this moment of God's grace in your life?
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Think about it. This is grace. It's the deepest possible pain and it is
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God's grace right now to you. Ezra is a gift and Ezra is with his savior and his name means salvation.
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And this moment is the moment where Ezra's namesake shouts to you, salvation.
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And the call of the good news is that you come and die and rise again now.
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That you come and be united to this savior and his death and resurrection. That you turn from sin to be saved and forgiven and reconciled to God now.
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So I think it's interesting that Jesus says whoever lives and believes in him will never die. You're like, that's kooky.
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It's a bit crazy. Because the truth of the matter is is these moments, they're light and momentary afflictions compared to the eternal weight of glory that's ahead of us.
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Think on this moment. Think on what this means right now to you.
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If there are no God -seekers because we're such rebels, then how good is
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God to redeem a moment like this? To bring the light of salvation into your eyes and your ears.
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To hear this message of good news, of forgiveness. Where God removes your mourning. He removes your poverty.
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He removes your bankrupt position before him and he raises you to life now through faith in his son.
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That's the glory of this moment. I'm gonna read to you a passage that is often read in these contexts but I wanna have you think through it in the light of God's love and control.
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It's God talking to us about his perfect plan. At every moment, perfect and controlled.
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Listen to what he says. Verse 28 of Romans 8.
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And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good. Christian and Esther, that's true.
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It's as true as it ever was and it's true right now and will always be true. You belong to God and he controls this moment.
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I promise. For those who are called together, called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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And those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified.
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And this is where Paul freaks out. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
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He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
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Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?
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Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
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As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
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I believe God's grace is mighty. And I believe
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God's grace over the child of two believers is mighty.
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And I believe that God calls life into death. And I believe that I can say with full assurance, based on the character of Jesus and who
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God is and what he says in his word, I believe that this is appropriate. Knowing all these things,
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Ezra is more than a conqueror through him who loved him. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate
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Ezra from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
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I leave you with these words. Jesus promises eternal life, forgiveness, reconciliation with God now, today.
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It's not about heaven one day, just that. It's about you being reconciled to God today.
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Jesus is God in the flesh. He is righteous. He was perfect. He died for sinners like you and me.
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He was buried and he rose again. And he calls you to come to him now for life.
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Turn to him and trust in him today and experience the gift of eternal life now.
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Be reconciled to God. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'd bless the word that went out.
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And Lord, I wanna ask God with all my heart that you would fill Esther and Christian now with your love and your strength and your power.
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Lord, that you would lift them up. God, that you'd put them on a rock. God, that they would trust in you.
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Lord, meet them in their pain. Jesus, touch them. Walk with them.
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I pray that you, God, would give them, Lord, a sense of your power over this situation.
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Lord, I pray that you'd give them a sense, Lord, of your love for Ezra. And Lord, I pray that,
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Lord, you would grant them the knowledge and peace that comes with knowing you.
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God, direct their paths. Lord, put your good news on their lips.
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Grant Ezra's mommy power, peace, and grant his daddy hope and strength.
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God, bless Judah. Strengthen his life.
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Draw him to you. Be with the family, God. Surround them with your love.
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Let them know, God, your presence in this moment.
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Let them know they'll never be lost in your hands. And Lord, give us,
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God, understanding of the truth that whoever lives and believes in you will never die. Let us see with our whole heart,
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God, clearly, God, that this is a light and momentary affliction compared to the eternal weight of glory ahead of us.
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God, let us live lives in light of this death. And I pray that you would be glorified in it and you would draw many to Christ because of Ezra.
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Jesus, you are glorious. Lord, you gave. Lord, you took away.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. You strike down to build me up.
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You say you do it all in love. That I might know you in your suffering.
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And though you slay me, yet I will praise you though you take from me.
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I will bless your name though you ruin me.
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Still I will worship, sing a song to the one who's all
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I need. My heart and flesh may fail, the earth below give way with my eyes, with my eyes
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I'll see the Lord. Lifted high on that day, behold the lamb that was slain and I know every tear was worth it all.
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And though you slay me, yet I will praise you though you take from me.
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I will bless your name though you ruin me.
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Still I will worship, sing a song to the one who's all
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I need. Though tonight
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I'm crying out, let this cup pass from me now.
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You're still more than I need. You're enough for me.
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You're enough for me.
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You slay me, yet I will praise you though you take from me.
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I will bless your name though you ruin me.
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Still I will worship, sing a song to the one who's all
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I need. Sing a song to the one who's all
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I need. He was fierce for our transgressions.
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He was crushed for our sins. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.
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And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed.
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He was fierce for our transgressions. He was crushed for our sins.
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The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed.
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We are healed by your sacrifice and the life that you gave.
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We are healed for you paid the price.
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By your grace we are saved. We are saved.
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He was fierce for our transgressions. He was crushed for our sins.
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The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed.
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We are healed by your sacrifice and the life that you gave.
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We are healed for you paid the price.
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By your grace we are saved. We are saved.
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He was fierce for our transgressions.
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He was crushed for our sins. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.
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And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed.
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By His wounds, by His wounds can wash away my sin.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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What can make me whole again?
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.
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No other fount I know.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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For my pardon this I seek.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing this my plea.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.
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No other fount I know.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.
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No other fount I know.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.
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No other fount I know.
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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You stood before creation. Eternity in your hand.
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You spoke the earth into motion. My soul now to stand.
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You stood before my failure. And carried the cross for my shame.
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My sin weighed upon your shoulders. My soul now to stand.
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So what can I say? What can
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I do? But offer this heart, oh
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God, completely to you.
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So I'll walk upon salvation. Your spirit alive in me.
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This life to defy your promise.
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My soul now to stand. So what can
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I say? What can
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I do? But offer this heart, oh
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God, completely to you.
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What can I say? What can
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I do? But offer this heart, oh
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God, completely to you.
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I'll stand with arms tied and heart abandoned in awe of the one who gave it all.
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I'll stand, my soul, Lord, to you surrendered all.
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I am is yours. I'll stand with arms tied and heart abandoned in awe of the one who gave it all.
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I'll stand, my soul, Lord, to you surrendered all.
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I am is yours. And I'll stand with arms tied and heart abandoned in awe of the one who gave it all.
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I'll stand, my soul, Lord, to you surrendered all.
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I am is yours. And I'll stand with arms tied and heart abandoned in awe of the one who gave it all.
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I'll stand, my soul, Lord, to you surrendered all.
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I am is yours. What can
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I say? What can
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I do? But offer this heart, oh
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God, completely to you.
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Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful, where your streams of abundance flow.
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Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name when
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I'm found in the desert place, when I'm sought through the wilderness.
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Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out,
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I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in,
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Lord, still I will say, blessed be the name of the
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Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the
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Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.
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Blessed be your name when the sun's shining down on me and the world's all as it should be.
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Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering.
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Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out,
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I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in,
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Lord, still I will say, blessed be the name of the
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Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the
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Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.
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You give and take away. You give and take away.
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My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name.
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You give and take away. You give and take away.
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My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be ♪
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Your glorious name ♪ ♪ You give and take away ♪ ♪
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You give and take away ♪ ♪ My heart will choose to say ♪ ♪
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Lord, blessed be your name ♪ ♪ God, you give and take away ♪ ♪
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You give and take away ♪ ♪ My heart will choose to say ♪ ♪
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Lord, blessed be your name ♪ ♪
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There is love that came for us ♪ ♪
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Humble to a sinner's cross ♪ ♪
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You broke my shame in sinfulness ♪ ♪
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You rose again victorious ♪ ♪
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Faithfulness none can deny ♪ ♪
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Through the storm and through the fire ♪ ♪ There is truth that sets me free ♪ ♪
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Jesus Christ who lives in me ♪ ♪
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You are stronger, you are stronger ♪ ♪ Sin is broken, you have saved me ♪ ♪
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It is written, Christ is risen ♪ ♪
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Jesus, you are Lord of all ♪ ♪
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No beginning and no end ♪ ♪
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You're my hope and my defense ♪ ♪ You came to seek and save the lost ♪ ♪
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You painted a F on the cross ♪ ♪
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You are stronger, you are stronger ♪ ♪
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Sin is broken, you have saved me ♪ ♪
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It is written, Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Jesus, you are
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Lord of all ♪ ♪
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So let your name be lifted higher ♪ ♪ Be lifted higher, be lifted higher ♪ ♪
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Let your name be lifted higher ♪ ♪ Be lifted higher, be lifted higher ♪ ♪
01:01:53
Let your name be lifted higher ♪ ♪ Be lifted higher, be lifted higher ♪ ♪
01:02:03
Let your name be lifted higher ♪ ♪ Be lifted higher, be lifted higher ♪ ♪
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You are stronger, you are stronger ♪ ♪ Sin is broken, you have saved me ♪ ♪
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It is written, Christ is risen ♪ ♪
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Jesus, you are Lord of all ♪ ♪
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You are stronger, you are stronger ♪ ♪ Sin is broken, you have saved me ♪ ♪
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It is written, Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Jesus, you are
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Lord of all ♪
01:03:14
So Christian and Esther, we met this week, they wanted to spend this time in this service in worship of God.
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They wanted to spend this time remembering Ezra, but praising
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God in the midst of it. And thank you for letting us join with you in this celebration and worship service to God in light of your son.
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We love you, and you guys need to know that your church loves you and is on call 24 -7 for you, okay?
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We're here for you. Esther specifically wanted everyone to show up.
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Afterwards, there's a lunch reception. It's at the Ridley's home, and the address is right here on your bulletin.
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And she would really like you to show up. And it's at two o 'clock, am I right about that? It's two o 'clock, good to go?
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You're ready now, so if you wanna head over even now, you guys can. But they would really like you guys to be in attendance.
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And so I wanted to, if you guys would, we're gonna rise, and I'm gonna read to you guys a verse.
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And the verse itself is supposed to be, for God's people, hope, blessing, power.
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If you belong to Christ today, if you're his, if you're in him, if you've been forgiven, if you trust in him, you've been raised up with him, then this is your
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God. Listen to his words. Psalm 23, the
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Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
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He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
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Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
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Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
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You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the
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Lord forever. Love these guys today before you leave.
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If you would raise your hand with me, and I'll give you the blessing. May Yahweh bless you and keep you.
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May Yahweh make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May Yahweh lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace in the name of the