December 4, 2022 – Sunday Service Live Stream

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Those who dwell in the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.

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You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of the harvest as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

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For you have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

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For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and the garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel of fire.

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For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called

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Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

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Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever.

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The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it. O come, let us worship and bow down, and let us kneel before the

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Lord, our maker. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we have come to worship and bow down and kneel before you, the

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Lord, our maker, for you are our God and we are the people of your pasture, the sheep of your hand.

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We come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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He is our advocate with the Father. He is the only mediator between God and man.

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He always lives to make intercession for us. Through him, we come boldly into your throne of grace.

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In his name, we earnestly seek you. O Lord, our souls thirst for you, our flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

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Bow your heavens and come down. Inhabit the praises of your people. Remember your promise,

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O Spirit of Christ, to be present in the midst of your worshiping people when two or more are gathered in your name.

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Condescend to us. Grant us the joy of your fellowship. Speak to us through your word.

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And be blessed by our praise and adoration. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.

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Please, as you're able, kneel for the corporate confession of sin. Let us join together in confessing our sins.

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Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep.

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We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws.

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We have left undone those things which we ought to have done. We have done those things which we ought not to have done.

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And there is no help in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.

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Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent according to your promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our

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Lord. Grant that we may have a godly, righteous, and sober life to the glory of his holy name.

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Amen. Please stand for the assurance of pardon. He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you are healed.

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My brothers and sisters in Christ, we should rejoice and be exceeding glad, for all our sins are forgiven.

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Amen. Let us take up the Trinity hymnal and turn to our first hymn, hymn number 204,

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Away in a Manger. Hymn 204. Amen.

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Please take up the insert and look for 148, Alleluia, praise the

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Lord's name. This is our psalm of the week, Psalm 148, Alleluia, praise the

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Lord's name. I'll ask Alyssa to play through it once for us, and then we will join in. Amen.

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Please remain standing and open your Bibles to Jeremiah 42. Jeremiah 42.

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Jeremiah 42. Know all the captains of the forces,

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Johanan the son of Korea, Jezaniah the son of Hoshiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, please let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the

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Lord your God for all this remnant since we are left but a few of many, as you can see, that the

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Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.

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Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard, indeed

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I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall be that whatever the

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Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.

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So they said to Jeremiah, let the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us. If we do not do according to everything which the

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Lord your God sends us by you, whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the

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Lord our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the

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Lord our God. And it happened after 10 days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

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Then he called Johanan the son of Korea, all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, and said to them, thus says the

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Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before him.

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If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up, for I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you.

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Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says the

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Lord, for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand.

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And I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.

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But if you say, we will not dwell in this land, disobeying the voice of the Lord your

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God, saying, no, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell.

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Then hear now the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the

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God of Israel, if you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt and go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt.

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The famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt, and there you shall die.

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So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there, and shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, and none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.

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For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as my anger and my fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will my fury be poured out on you when you enter

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Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach, and you shall see this place no more.

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The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, do not go to Egypt.

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Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the

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Lord your God, saying, pray for us to the Lord our God. And according to all that the Lord your God says, so declare to us, and we will do it.

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And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God or anything which he has sent you by me.

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Now, therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the place where you desire to go to dwell.

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This is the word of the Lord. Let us join our voices together, confessing our common

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Christian faith in the singing of the Apostles Creed. One more time, and turn to hymn number 200.

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It came upon a midnight clear, hymn 200. And turn one page over to hymn 201,

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O little town of Bethlehem. And please make preparations for the prayers of the people.

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Let us pray in unison. Almighty and ever -living God, in whom we live and love our children, offer to you our humble praises for having preserved us in the beginning of our lives to this day.

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Especially do we praise you for having delivered us from the dangers and uncertainties of this past week.

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May these mercies be blessed and magnify you for both praise and thanksgiving.

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For his sake we lay fulfill now.

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I ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world, for our denomination, for this church, for all ministers and missionaries.

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Pray for the church. I ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the bereaved, the burdened, and for the widows, orphans, and prisoners.

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Pray for those in any need or trouble. I ask your prayers for those who do not know

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Christ and for those who seek a deeper knowledge of him. Pray that they may find and be found by him.

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I ask your prayers for our children and future generations which will be born to them.

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Pray that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth through them. Pray that we may have grace to glorify

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Christ in our own day. Being in agreement of all these things, we join our voices together and say amen.

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Please stand and take up the insert one more time for our new Psalm of the

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Month. Brother DJ, before we get started, any final words of exhortation?

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Alyssa, would you like to play through it one time for us? Please turn in your

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Bibles to the book of Micah. Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Micah in chapter five.

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I want to remind you of the reverence, awe, and attentiveness that is required when we open

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God's holy and infallible word. Let's give our attention to his holy word.

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Micah chapter five. Now gather yourself in troops, oh daughter of troops.

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He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

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But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are of old, from everlasting.

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Therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth.

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Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the

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Lord. In the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide.

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For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And this one shall be peace.

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When the Assyrian comes into our land and when he treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princely men.

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They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria and the land of Nibrod at its entrances.

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Thus he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and when he treads within our borders.

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And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, like the dew from the

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Lord, like showers on the grass that tarry for no man, nor wait for the sons of men.

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And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who if he passes through, both treads down and tears in pieces, and none can deliver.

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Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries and all your enemies shall be cut off.

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And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that I will cut off your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots.

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I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. I will cut off sorceries from your hand.

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You shall have no soothsayers. Your carved images I will also cut off and your sacred pillars from your midst, you shall no more worship the work of your hands.

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I will pluck your wooden images from your midst, thus I will destroy your cities.

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And I will execute vengeance and anger and fury on the nations that have not heard.

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O Lord, we thank you for your most holy word. We thank you for this simple but marvelous prophecy, forthtelling the place of your birth.

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We pray, O Lord, that we too would long with great anticipation the arrival of Christ the

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King. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated.

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Today I am only going to preach on one verse of chapter five, and that will be verse two.

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There's a lot of other great things even for this season, but the limits of my vocal capacity are short, so I'm going to try to preach only on verse two today.

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I've titled the message, O Little Bethlehem. When wise men came from the east, asked, where is he that is born

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King of the Jews? Herod demanded the

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Pharisees tell him where the Christ should be born. And in Matthew chapter two, we learn that the

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Pharisees and the religious leaders quoted Malachi five to identify the location and place of the birth of the

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Messiah. It says, and they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written through the prophet, and thou,

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Bethlehem, land of Judah, art in no wise least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come forth a ruler who shall be the shepherd of my people

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Israel. The Pharisees understood clearly the messianic character of this prophecy, and answered

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Herod accordingly. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem in Judah.

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Bethlehem, as you know, is the city of David. It's located about five miles from Jerusalem.

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I should point out to you that five miles was a lot longer distance than it is for us today.

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I drove over 20 miles very comfortably to come here today for my house. Jerusalem, the largest, most prominent city at the time of Christ, would be populated by daily, year -long residents, about 60 ,000 people.

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The great city of Jerusalem, about 60 ,000 regular residents, filling up to about 300 ,000 during the feast days.

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Five miles away, in a town so forgotten, it's not even listed as one of the cities of Judah, as a prominent city.

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It didn't have enough people. In a large metropolitan area like ours, this kind of town would be included in our metro area, but in the world of Micah, in the world of Jesus, five miles was a long way.

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Bethlehem was statistically insignificant. It didn't even qualify for that list, as I said.

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So, the question arises, why is Bethlehem so significant?

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The first point today is the title of the message, O Little Bethlehem. Bethlehem Ephrathah means the house of bread.

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Children, that's going to be important for me today, so I'd like you to remember that, the house of bread.

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It is a place of abundance and fruitfulness. And the text says, you are little among the thousands of Judah.

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In our Zechariah study, we included this in our list of the small things.

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Jesus was born in a small place, relatively insignificant by other standards.

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And if we take the telescopic view from way back in space, and we dive down back into Earth, we see the smallest nation is

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Israel. And one of the small towns in the smallest nation, this is the place that Christ was born.

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Incredible to think about, the one who created all of these things, the one who holds all these things together, he comes to this small place.

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This prophecy was given over 700 years before the birth of Jesus. And there are over 300 prophecies of Jesus Christ in the

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Old Testament. This prophecy in Micah is part of that important, very solid, important biblical record that foretells the arrival of Jesus, who is the

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Messiah. The one born in the house of bread is the true bread from heaven.

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I'd like you all to turn with me to John chapter six. Please, John chapter six, we have plenty of time today, because I'm going to be short.

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I'm going to read a sizable portion of this text for you to get a sense of what's happening at the arrival of Jesus, and how something as simple as bread could become so significant, not only as a picture of God's coming,

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God's nourishment from heaven, but even our own sacrament, and how all these things are tied together, how in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, heaven has come down.

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There's been a rending of the heavens, and the Lord Christ has come, and there's been an elevation, a reconformity to that dignity of man created in the image of God.

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Man has now been dignified by the presence of the incarnate Christ. All this is happening in a little place called

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Bethlehem. I'm going to read starting in verse 32 of chapter six.

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Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven.

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He's referring to the manna. What a marvelous miracle the manna was.

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Incredible miracle. But my father gives you the true bread from heaven.

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The true bread from heaven, the one who would say I am the bread of life, he was born in a place that's called the house of bread.

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Verse 33, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

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They said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them,

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I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who 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.

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All that the father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.

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For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

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This is the will of the father who sent me, that of all he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

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I should pause here and say what an amazing promise.

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As I look upon your beautiful faces in the congregation, all of you who are numbered with Christ, all that have been given by the father to the son, none of you will be lost.

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What an amazing promise. Because Christ comes down, because of the incarnation, because of his salvation, we are swept up into the glorious wake of the redemption of all the people of God, and our place is so secure, not because of our ability to keep covenant, but for his ability to put us and keep us in covenant.

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None will be lost, verse 40 says, and this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

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It's funny how this dispute becomes one over bread. Verse 41 says, the

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Jews then complained about him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.

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And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

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How is it then that he says, I have come down from heaven? Indeed, the burning question, how is it that the son of God would come down from heaven?

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And the answer is, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, conceived of the

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Holy Spirit, born in Bethlehem. The true bread from heaven has come down in Christ.

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How can he be this one when we know his parents? How can he say,

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I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered and says to them, do not murmur among yourselves.

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No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

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It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me, not that anyone has seen the father, except he who is from God, he has seen the father.

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Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life.

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Verse 48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.

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This is the bread which comes down from heaven that no one, that one, excuse me, may eat of it and not die.

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I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which

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I shall give for the life of the world. Pretty powerful when you consider the prominence, what should be the prominence in the

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Christian church and the Lord's Supper, bread. This is the explanation for it.

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This is how the simplest food in the world speaks of heavenly things, by the person of Jesus Christ.

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Because of the incarnation, heaven has come down and wine and bread now are cosmically, heavenly, glorious because of Christ.

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Verse 52, the Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

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That's another important question. It's been recovered by us.

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We are viewed as being weird in our liturgy because we say these words, flesh and blood, eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

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This is scandalous. We need to recover the scandal of communion. We need the pagans to accuse us of being cannibals again.

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We need to walk that beautiful line of not slipping over into Roman era, but they need to be asking this question.

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How can they eat the body and blood of Jesus Christ? How will that nourish them?

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How does that give them life? They need to be asking that question of us. Verse 53,

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Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

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Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

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For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.

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As the living father sent me, and I've lived because of the father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me.

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This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead.

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He who eats this bread will live forever.

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Bread from heaven, that Jesus, the

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Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, forms an important link in an unbreakable and irrefutable chain of prophecy.

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The Christ would be of the seed of Abraham. He would come forth out of the tribe of Judah, that he would be

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David's son, that he would be crucified long before there was a known thing of crucifixion, that they would pierce his hands and his feet, that he would, as the

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Messiah of Israel, be the Messiah to the nations, that he would welcome in the

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Gentiles and be their light, that the Messiah, Jesus, would be despised and rejected of men, true in his day, true in ours, that he would be betrayed by one of his close associates.

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You remember when he said, for I have chosen all of you and one of you is a devil, that the price of his betrayal would be 30 pieces of silver, that he would, after the crucifixion, rise from the dead, that he would make his grave with the wicked, that he would be buried in a rich man's tomb, that he would heal the blind, the lame and the deaf, that he would raise the dead, that he would speak in parables, and even that the iniquity of us all would be laid upon him, that he would come to Jerusalem in triumph, riding on a donkey, that he would be the cause for the rise and fall of many in Israel, that he would sit upon the throne of David.

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And that's very important in connection to Micah 5. This Messiah will come from David's city.

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And hallelujah, as Mark alluded to in his reading and call to worship, that the increase of his kingdom, his governance, there will be no end.

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The Messiah has come to reclaim his creation, to make it a new creation.

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He's come to reclaim the creatures that have been lost to sin and to make them new creatures.

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And him, we'll explore this with a little bit more depth in just a moment, that he would be both

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David's son and David's Lord. How is it possible?

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The question of his opponents in John 6, we know his parents. How can he be the bread from heaven?

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That he would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, that he would set the sin -enslaved captives free, that they would cast lots even for his garments, that they would look upon him whom they have pierced.

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There's other types in scripture. I'm not gonna go through all of them, obviously. Do you remember Isaac, the son of promise?

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He's a type of Christ. He carried the wood up the hill where Jesus, in that fullness of time, would be crucified.

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Isaac would be spared, for God himself will provide a sacrifice. Jesus was not spared.

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God himself, the sacrifice, has come to Bethlehem.

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Moses changed water into blood. Christ's first miracle was to turn water into wine.

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And there's interesting, one scholar has identified over 100 typological events in Moses' life that points to Jesus.

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Even the tabernacle and temple furnishings point to Christ. The veil in the tabernacle was a type of Christ.

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The table of showbread foretold the Lord's supper. The mercy seat in the blood foretold his death and his atoning work.

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The Passover was designed to point us to the Lamb of God that would come into the world.

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And that Lamb of God that came into the world came to Bethlehem. Little second point

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I have, this will be the final point, is the one to be ruler in Israel.

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Messiah is to be born in Israel. Born in Bethlehem to reign in Israel.

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But there is a curious statement at the end of verse two.

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I'd like all of you to look at it again. Micah 5 .2. This is that paradoxical question, how can

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Jesus be the bread from heaven? We know his father Joseph, he says he's the son of God.

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This one's to be the ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

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This prophecy, as I mentioned, 700 years before Christ. For us, that's a long time.

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It's a pretty long time. When this is written, it says of Jesus that his goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

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This is referring to Jesus's pre -incarnate existence.

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And as we know from John one and early Hebrews, this extends past the beginning, the creation of things.

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In refutation of the Arian heresy, Jesus was always with God, he is

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God. His goings forth are from old, from everlasting.

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So we see this beautiful thing. Heaven and earth are touching and meeting and kissing in Christ.

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Eternity past, the present and the future are now all finding their locusts in Christ.

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Whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. I'm gonna ask you to turn one more place.

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This'll be the last time. Turn to Matthew chapter 22, beginning in verse 41.

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This is Matthew 22, 41. While the

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Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what do you think about the

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Christ, whose son is he? And they said to him, quickly, knowing 2

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Samuel 7, he's gotta be the son of David. And he poses the question which our text identifies in Micah 5 ,2,

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I should tell you how messed up I am. I wrote on my notes, at the top of my paper,

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Malachi 5 ,2. I'm not preaching in Malachi. And Malachi doesn't have a chapter five. So that's where I am mentally.

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So whatever happens, happens, I'm sorry. He said to them, how then does

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David in the spirit call him Lord? The wonder of the incarnation, the wonder of the season that we celebrate, how is this possible?

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He's born late in time appearing. We know his mom and we know his dad.

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How does he say, how does David in the spirit writing this

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Psalm, Psalm 110, the most oft quoted Psalm in the New Testament.

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The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

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God the Father says to God the Son, he calls him Lord. You sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

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Jesus poses the question, if David then calls him

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Lord, how is he his son, the incarnation of the living word?

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You have the hardness of heart in the Jews and their unbelief. Every page of scripture screams out, it's mathematically impossible that Jesus not be the

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Messiah. He has to be, that our friends in that faith would turn from their hard heartedness and run to Christ in faith.

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David calls him Lord, how is he his son? The incarnation of Christ is the full descent, the heavenly ascent of redeemed man.

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The promise of Davidic kingship is realized in Christ.

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David, the most insignificant of Jesse's sons is the anointed one.

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Bethlehem, among the most insignificant of the cities is the place, the birthplace of the

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Messiah. David calls him

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Lord, how is he his son? And that question is yes, how so? How is it possible, how is it possible?

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How do we reconcile these difficult questions? A little town of Bethlehem, among the smallest of towns and the smallest of nations, the

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Savior will come from you. His arrival is the rending of the heavens and God coming down.

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He's taking on flesh, is taking on a flesh, is the exaltation of man.

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Heaven and earth unite in Christ. God and sinner are reconciled, say amen.

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He is the ancient of days. He is the great

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I am. He is the creator and sustainer of all things, clothed in flesh, the

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Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. Surely the word has become flesh, dwelt among us.

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Behold, only begotten of the

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Father, full of grace. Let's prepare our hearts to receive

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Christ the King, amen. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask the question, how can

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Messiah born at this point in history be the

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Savior of all? How can a man born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah, called a

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Nazarene living up in the hills, the northern part of the country, how is he the one who saves

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Israel and saves the nations? Oh Lord, I pray that our hearts would be filled with wonder, childlike wonder like we had when we were small, when we were amazed at things.

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We would realize that in Bethlehem, the little town, the ancient of days, the

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King of Kings, the creator and sustainer of all things came in the flesh.

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And it's from there, oh Lord, that he lived that sinless life. And from there, accomplished the great work of redemption.

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Oh Lord, I pray that you would cause your people to ponder these things and rejoice and revel in them.

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We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Let's continue our worship through the presentation of our tithes and offerings.

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Please stand, let us pray. Our gracious God and Father, as we consider that all things have come from your hand, as we have heard preached and read earlier that unto us you gave your

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Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. You have given us new life through his blood, that you have given us all of what we have in you.

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We live and move and have our being. How could we not with great joy render back to you these tithes and offerings?

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We pray, Father, that we do so with great thanksgiving and with great joy. We pray,

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Father, that they would be used for the furthering of your kingdom. We ask that you would give us the grace and wisdom.

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We pray all these things, Father, in the name of Christ, and amen. Let us join our voices together, glorifying

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God in the glory of Patria. The Lord be with you.

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Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the

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Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you,

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O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God, because you sent your beloved

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Son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life, that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may, without shame or fear, rejoice to behold his appearing.

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Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.

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Please be seated and let us pray.

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O God, the Father of all mercies, and God of all consolation, grant your gracious presence and effectual working of your

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Spirit in us, and so to sanctify these elements both of bread and wine, and to bless your own ordinance that we may receive by faith the body and blood of Jesus Christ, crucified for us, and so to feed upon him that he may be one with us and we one with him, that he may live in us and we in him, and for him who has loved us and given himself for us.

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With the words of the preaching in our ears, we come and remember that in the night in which, therefore, we proclaim the faith, we do not presume to come to this your table,

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O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.

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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same

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Lord who always shows mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear

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Son, Jesus Christ, and the drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his blood, and our souls washed through his most precious blood.

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Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us, the gifts of God for the people of God.

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In God's word, in the preaching, and we have fed at the table, let us now make this commitment together, praying,

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Almighty and ever -living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of your most precious body and blood, your

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Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, who are assuring us of these holy mysteries, that we are living men, but having them imprinted on our hearts, we grow and increase daily, faithful to our work and every good deed.

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And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our

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Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, the honor and glory, now and forever.

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Amen. Please stand. Receive now the blessing, the

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Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

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The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.