Jesus Is King (John 12:9-36 Jeff Kliewer)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Jesus Is King

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So everyone's here and seated and quiet. That doesn't happen very often. And then we start doing our thing and like 50 more people come in.
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So thanks for being early. I don't see anyone, any visitors this morning that we have going on?
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If you haven't received one of these little welcome packets, I have someone. Oh, awesome.
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Are you Mike's brother? No. No way.
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I don't even know who that is. That's not even real.
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I don't even know what to say. If you don't know Mike, he's a completely different person.
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People start to come in. Here we go. Thank you for coming. Thank you for joining us this morning.
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Bit dreary outside, but we are glad that you are here. We're gonna shine the light of Christ this morning and go out from this place joyful and happy that we know
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Christ and that he is our Redeemer. John, I think you have some announcements for us. I wanna say good morning.
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It's awesome to see you all to be here. For those of you who were with us
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Friday night and Saturday, you know what I'm about to talk about. For those of you who couldn't make it, the men had an incredible day and a half retreat down to Harvey Cedars.
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John Dottoli did an amazing job of putting it together. Leading us in song was awesome.
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If you think about a room that was barely big enough for 30 guys to sit in, and there we were singing.
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I'm not gonna take your punchline. You have that for later, okay? All right. But we did have a great time of teaching and of fellowship.
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And then on Friday evening, after the first evening's teaching, we had a little bit of recreation.
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The building right across from us, it was the gym and it was reserved for us for an hour and a half.
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It had ping pong, it had foosball, but pretty much everybody was out in the gym with the basketball.
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We played some half court, we played some full court, and I would be really remiss if I did not acknowledge that within your church, there are some real good sharpshooters.
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One of them, and I announced this first service, and I don't think he had told his wife he had played basketball,
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Dave Wilson. He's got that heart thing. He could not miss. He was hitting them from all over the place.
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I had the privilege of trying to guard him and I could not. He just was all over the place.
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The second one was Mr. Cleaver. He could not, oh wait a minute, no. No, it was mini me.
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Jeff, I don't even know if you made a shot from the field. I know you made some layups, but Timmy, he couldn't miss from the outside.
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Just don't put him on the free throw line. He couldn't make a free throw to save his life. But we had a great time.
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It was a great time of fellowship. We're pretty much planning on doing it again next year if you couldn't make it and you've heard about it.
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It's actually a father -son retreat, which was very special. I'm gonna open us up in Proverbs 1 .8.
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Hear my son your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching.
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We have a calling, a privilege, an opportunity as parents, as grandparents, to be able to proclaim truth to the next generation.
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And it's a privilege and it is such an honor. This past weekend, I was with my son -in -law and my grandson,
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Mason, and over dinner, Mason was grilling me about questions of theology, wanting to know the scripture, why
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I said what I had to say. What an amazing opportunity we have as parents.
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But here's the thing. When you instruct your children, instruct them in truth. When you instruct your children, don't say, this is what
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I've always believed, this is what my church has always believed. Do your own homework, know the truth.
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Teach them in the truth. This is what raises your children. And to get wisdom out of those opportunities as the child, and I don't care how old you are as a child talking to somebody else.
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You need to accept the truth when it is taught because that is the light, that is the power for you.
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We have some amazing opportunities coming up. We have a baptism service that we are planning in the middle of June, and there'll be some classes in preparation for them.
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The first class will actually be next week at the 1045 service, and then a couple of weeks later will be the second class.
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If you have not been baptized as a believer, and if God is working in your heart that this is the right thing for you to do, you can talk to Pastor Jeff, myself, one of the leaders.
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Come here next Sunday. During the second service, we will have a class. There'll be another opportunity in the fall down at Long Beach Island on the
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Bayside, but right now we have this one coming up, and if God is calling you, take the opportunity.
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Next Sunday will also be the beginning of a 24 -hour prayer and fast.
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We've talked about this already. Pastor Jeff brought up to our attention at the last congregational meeting different options.
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Where is God gonna lead us with regard to the size of our congregation, the capacity of our facility,
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Phillips Road, and all kinds of things? Where does God want us to go?
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And that's what we need to be asking because God already has a sovereign will. We just need to follow him.
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So we're going to take a 24 -hour day of prayer and fasting, and this is the primary focus of it.
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So we're going to kick it off next Sunday evening at six o 'clock.
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Our prayer time is normally at six o 'clock Sunday evenings. We're gonna come into here because we're expecting to have more people than we could fit in that small classroom.
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We'll have some time for some songs and for some prayer and preparation for this time of prayer and fasting.
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That will then go through the night into the next day. On the next day, May 8th, is the first of four sessions on evangelism.
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And we have some people that have been gifted in that realm of evangelism.
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Phil is one, and Pastor Jeff will be another. And we're going to be given some tools to use.
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The word of God is the power, but we're going to be given some help. If you feel awkward or ill -equipped to talk to somebody you don't know, four classes to help you get ready.
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So what's going to happen? Sunday at six o 'clock, we come together for our prayer time. It will be in here with some fellowship, some worship, launch the fast, go through the day.
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The next day at six o 'clock on Monday, come back here again, and we will have food. That details are being worked out, but we will break that fast together.
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In another time of worship and song and in prayer. And then just stay right here because that will be the first of the evangelism classes.
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So that will be going on. So those are great opportunities to look forward to next weekend. But tomorrow morning, gentlemen, set your clocks early for our morning fellowship and prayer time at six o 'clock here at the church.
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We look forward to seeing you there. Is Tim Robinson in the building?
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Okay, I don't see, he is there? Tell him he's not, he's on. I'm sorry?
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He's gonna, okay. Tim will give an announcement next week, but I'll give you a tease because he'll give it in more detail.
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I guess he's got children's church today. Okay, we are going to be launching a young adult fellowship.
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And it will start in the middle of May. So this will be after high school. What is the top end of young adult, the first service,
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Pastor Jeff was saying, me, me, me, Jeff, I think you aged out. Don't know that.
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But there will be a young adult fellowship that will be launched. There'll be times of prayer and study and activities and stuff like that.
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Tim will give you more on that next week. It's gonna launch sometime in the month of May. Let's go to prayer.
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Father, we do pray to you. We seek you, we seek after you. We seek after your truth.
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We accept it because it is truth and what the world has just leads us down the wrong paths.
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We seek you. We seek after your Holy Spirit, the power that the Holy Spirit instructs us, guides us.
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Lord, we thank you that we are given the opportunity to lead and equip others.
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And Lord, that you have led and equipped those who teach, the parents, the grandparents, the friends who are able to teach and mentor others, those who lead studies, the evangelists, the pastors.
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We thank you for the power that comes from you, that power that is your word. It's that truth that overcomes the world.
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The power that is your word, it's the truth that transforms lives, draws us into conformance with you.
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In all things, Lord, we choose your truth. And we speak it without reservation because it is truth.
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Be with us, we pray this morning, that our hearts would be open, that we would accept truth as it's given to us, and that the power of your
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Holy Spirit, and through that, we will grow in our relationship with you and that we will leave this place walking closer to you and abandoning the ways of the world.
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Be with those in need, we pray. Be with Pastor Jeff this morning. Give him your words, we pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Will you stand with me? ♪
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Hail the power of Jesus' name ♪ ♪
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Let angels prostrate fall ♪ ♪
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Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him
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Lord of all ♪ ♪ Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him
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Lord of all ♪ ♪
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Ten seed of Israel's race he ransomed from the fall ♪ ♪
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Hail him who came to find his grace and crown him
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Lord of all ♪ ♪ Hail him who came to find his grace and crown him
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Lord of all ♪ ♪
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Every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial wall ♪ ♪
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To him all majesty ascribe and crown him
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Lord of all ♪ ♪ To him all majesty ascribe and crown him
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Lord of all ♪
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Amen. Amen. We stand together praising him and singing praises to him.
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I wanna let you know that during that mend your tree, as John was saying, when you had 30 men singing praise to his name, it was remarkable.
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I was proud to be able to lead them because I know that men can sing and they made it quite evident.
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We sang, oh, hail the power of Jesus' name. We almost blew the roof off. We're gonna sing, crown him.
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Crown him with many crowns. As our redeemer, we know that he died for us and we can sing praises to his name.
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We may not feel like it sometimes, but when we are believing in him, there's joy in our heart that's overflowing and it just overflows in singing.
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When we are unbelievers, there is no real song in our heart. But when we believe, all of a sudden we become worshipers, we become singers.
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And I can hear your voices this morning and I know God can hear your heart and your voices this morning.
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So let's continue to sing together. ♪ Crown him with many crowns ♪ ♪
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The Lamb upon his throne ♪ ♪
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Our God of heavenly anthem drowns ♪ ♪
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All music but its own ♪ ♪ Awake my soul and sing of him who died for thee ♪ ♪
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And hail him as thy flesh was given through all eternity ♪ ♪
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Majesty, Lord of all ♪ ♪ Let every throne before him fall ♪ ♪
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The King of kings, O come adore ♪ ♪
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Our God who reigns forevermore ♪ ♪
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My, who triumphed o 'er the earth ♪ ♪
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And over the grave ♪ ♪ And those victorious in the strife ♪ ♪
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For those he came to save ♪ ♪
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His glory now we sing ♪ ♪
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Who died and rose, who died eternal ♪ ♪
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And lives as death,
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King of kings ♪ ♪
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O hail,
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Redeemer, hail, for he has died for me ♪ ♪
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His praise and glory shall not fail for eternity ♪ ♪
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O hail, Redeemer, hail, for he has died for me ♪ ♪
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His praise and glory ♪ ♪
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Majesty, Lord of all ♪ ♪
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Let every throne before him fall ♪ ♪
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O praise God more, you're the
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God who reigns forever ♪
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Amen, Lord, we know that you are the reason that we sing. Jesus, we know that because you are the only one that ever could say, it is finished.
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We know that you paid our debt completely in full. The debt that we owed, you paid with your life.
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And we, from this day forward, want to sing praises to your name with our joyful heart that you saved us.
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♪ All -sufficient merit, shining like the sun ♪ ♪
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A fortune I inherit, no work
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I can do alone ♪ ♪ All I have done, my righteousness
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I forfeit ♪ ♪ At my Savior's cross, where all -sufficient merit ♪ ♪
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Did what I could not ♪ ♪
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In love
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He compensated, eternal now in time ♪ ♪
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A life without a blemish, the
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Maker made to die ♪ ♪ The law could never save us, our lawlessness had been ♪ ♪
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The love of your hands, it is done, it is given ♪ ♪
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No more debt I owe, paid in full ♪ ♪
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All -sufficient merit now my own ♪ ♪
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I lay down my garments, petty, empty, plain ♪ ♪
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Good works all corrupted by the sinful host ♪ ♪
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Dressed in my Lord Jesus, a crimson robe made white ♪ ♪
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No more fear of judgment, His righteousness is mine ♪ ♪
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It is done, it is given, no more debt
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I owe ♪ ♪ All -sufficient merit, firm in life and death ♪ ♪
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The joy of my salvation shall be my final breath ♪ ♪
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I'll kneel beside Jesus and thank
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Him for the cross ♪ ♪ Yes, I'll thank Him for the cross ♪ ♪
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It is done, it is given, no more debt
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I owe ♪ ♪ Paid in full, all -sufficient merit now my own ♪ ♪
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It is done, it is given, no more debt
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I owe ♪ ♪ All -sufficient merit now my own ♪ ♪
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All -sufficient merit now my own ♪ ♪
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All -sufficient merit now my own ♪ Let's pray.
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God, we thank you so much for your word, which is truth. We confess your word is truth.
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And Lord, we pray that you would bring us into conformity with everything that you have said.
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We pray if we have misconceptions, Lord, that you would shine light on those and open our minds to understand what your word says.
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Correct us where we are wrong. We pray, Lord, that we would not be prideful in our own positions, but that we would be constantly submissive to your word, that we would be teachable, trainable by the scriptures.
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And so now, Lord, as we open the text, we pray that you would guide us and lead us into all truth, in Jesus' name, amen.
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You know, Satan was a spin doctor and is a spin doctor. He loves to twist language.
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When God gave a command in the garden that they shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
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Satan came in his temptation and said, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
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And so just from the beginning, he has twisted what God actually said. He uses language as a tool to deceive.
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And of course, the world follows after Satan in their use of language.
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They follow their leader. The world has an expert tactic of introducing some wild, sinful idea into the world to try to lead people astray.
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And then when moral Christians object to what they're saying, they will turn around and use language to act as if they have been victimized.
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When they get caught, they use language as a tool to obfuscate the real issue.
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I'll give you some examples. They introduced inappropriate images and stories into children's books and push those into the classrooms in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade classrooms.
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When Christians objected to this, they turned around and said that Christians are trying to what?
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Ban books. Book bans became the cover of every newspaper.
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And the new narrative, which made them the victim, is that Christians are trying to ban books.
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And that was their new language. Or likewise, when teachers were telling their perverted stories and trying to indoctrinate children, there was a governor in Florida that said that they were no longer allowed to speak of these things with children at that age in the third grade and under.
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And as a result, that governor was labeled as saying, don't say gay.
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As if that's what his language and his desire was, that the word could never be spoken, rather the new narrative was cast that Christians say you can't say gay.
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It was a use of language to try to change the script. Most recently, there has been an infiltration of the evangelical church with a cultural
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Marxism, more colloquially known as what? Wokeness, to be woke.
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The woke doctrines have been pushed into evangelical churches. This Marxist kind of ideology usually built around race, cultural
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Marxism. But when Christians speak up against that, they are labeled as Christian nationalists.
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That's the label or the tag that is given to those who have spoken against it. Now, understand that when
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Christians push back against this intrusion, there will be some who are pushing this movement that will say, okay, you're right.
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Critical race theory is bad. We're going to back off of some of that. But Christian nationalism on the other side is just as bad.
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And the goal in doing this is kind of the dialectic, as Marx would have taught.
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A thesis, they propose an antithesis, and the goal is to come somewhere in the middle, but thereby move the bar, move the goalpost steadily along the way with this new synthesis.
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So by crying Christian nationalism, they can push back against that and move the bar somewhat left, even if not as far as had been hoped for.
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The term Christian nationalism was pretty well unknown a few years ago. Were any of you guys talking about Christian nationalism before the last couple of years?
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Nobody was. It's a new term. It was popularized by Christianity Today because that magazine has been infiltrated by woke teachers,
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Russell Moore now being the leader of it. Well, the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the
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Southern Baptist Church was part of that board was Paul Miller, a man named
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Paul Miller. And Christianity Today took him and commissioned him. He's the
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PhD, the deep thinker. He's got all the great language to try to fight back against those who are resisting wokeness.
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So he wrote an article in February of 2021 for Christianity Today called
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What is Christian Nationalism? Now understand that this man,
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Paul Miller, was part of the deep state. He worked in both the Bush White House and in the
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Obama White House before infiltrating into evangelicalism to push this agenda against Christian nationalism.
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But understand, the term Christian nationalism came from Paul Miller's popularization.
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It did not come from the evangelical church. It was a rhetorical tool to try to silence
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Christians from speaking out against leftist politics coming into the church.
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It was a political tool. Now, when labeled a
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Christian nationalist, what are you to do? There are many recently who have decided to embrace the term.
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But that is to begin to play by the playbook of the left.
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It's a trap. It's meant to corner Christians and describe them in terms that we never used for ourselves.
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And it sets up the wrong expectation of what we are after. You see, on the left, those who do not ascribe to a biblical worldview, politics is all they have.
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Everything is about this world. There is no world beyond this that matters more.
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Everything is about changing the here and the now. And so, those whose agenda is entirely political are willing to infiltrate into evangelical churches to sway the culture.
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That's why you have people like Jesse Jackson or Jeremiah Wright or Ron Sider or Jim Wallace from Sojourner's Magazine.
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Infiltrators claiming to be evangelicals whose goal is actually political, to move the church off of the standard of biblical fidelity.
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Now, the question is, will we use the term Christian nationalism? I wouldn't bring this up except that it's become quite a hot topic within the evangelical community.
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If we were post -millennial, meaning that we thought that after the millennium, then
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Christ will come, then it would make sense to call ourselves
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Christian nationalists. The goal would be to bring in a political kingdom where the theocracy of Christianity was running the show.
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In order that Christ would come back. That is essentially the doctrine of the post -millennial
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Christian. But what we have always taught from this pulpit through the book of Revelation, through 1st and 2nd
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Thessalonians, is what is called pre -millennialism.
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Pre -millennialism says that Christ is going to come back and when he returns, he will make all things right.
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He will set up his kingdom here for a thousand years, a millennium, in which there is a perfect reign of justice and peace on earth and goodwill to men.
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That millennial kingdom is yet future and until Christ comes, we should not expect the world to look like the kingdom will.
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The darkness will be dark and we will be sons of light in a dark world.
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Jesus is coming again. When he comes, he will be clothed in a white robe and riding on a white steed, on a brilliant white horse.
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And his robe will be dipped in blood and from his mouth will come a two -edged sword and on his thigh will read,
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King of kings and Lord of lords and when he arrives, he will tread the winepress of the wrath of the fury of Almighty God.
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He will make all things right at his second coming and he will bring in a millennial kingdom, a thousand year reign before the eternal state.
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We will see in the text today, John chapter 12, turn with me, the introduction, the inauguration of a king.
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His name is Jesus. He comes as king in the triumphal entry and yet what follows the triumphal entry is not the exhortation to establish a
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Christian nation. Rather, it is a call to individuals whosoever will, from every tribe and tongue and nation regardless of skin color or language, every individual who would come and believe in him is welcome to become a son of the kingdom, a daughter of the king.
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Sons of light are individuals who are brought to the king and this is our mandate.
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This is our focus until he comes back. The sons of light can serve the king even in a dark world and we can keep our lives for eternal life.
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We're picking up at John 12, verse 9. The key event prior to this is the raising of Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11 and then early in chapter 12,
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Mary, the sister of Lazarus who had been raised from the dead is so filled with gratitude, with worship, with love for her king that she anoints him with a full bottle of spikenard and she wipes his feet with her hair.
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She is adoring the king. She's worshiping the king and in verse 8, Jesus goes so far as to say the poor you will always have with you but you do not always have me which would be a bit narcissistic if it were not true.
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He is in fact the king worthy to be adored and Mary has done the good thing.
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She has gotten it right. She has eyes to see. Now we pick up in verse 9 and we'll get to the triumphal entry but it's the raising of Lazarus that has drawn all this attention and has brought the crowds to where Jesus is.
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Verse 9, when the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, Bethany, they came not only on account of him but also to see
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Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put
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Lazarus to death as well because on account of him many of the
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Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. Wow.
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What did Lazarus ever do? He just got raised from the dead and I don't think he was too afraid of the threat because they're threatening to kill him and he's sort of like, well, been there, done that.
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I'm with him. He knows how to fix that problem too. He has no fear of death and yet what did he ever do?
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He did nothing wrong and yet they have determined to kill him as well.
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Now interestingly, these are religious political leaders.
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This is a sacral system. Sacralism is a system where the religious leaders are also the political rulers.
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So prior to the Reformation and then during the Reformation in the early years, the Roman Catholic Church had the power by inquisition to question people and put them to death.
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So Martin Luther was in fear of his life. The religious leaders could kill you.
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That's sacralism and clearly it doesn't work.
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Look in the text. What's up with these Pharisees? Many people think, well,
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Pharisees, they're just like really legalistic sorts, right? You've always heard that said, right?
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Pharisees are legalistic, meaning they make up extra laws above and beyond what's written in the text.
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That's true, but it misses the heart of the problem. Pharisees are actually lawless.
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They don't keep the law. They neglect the weighty matters of the law in favor of these extra rules and these extra rules are only what make them look good.
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They're willing to do the outward things like tithe a tenth of their mint and their dill and their cumin.
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They're willing to do everything that makes them look good like praying on the street corners and fasting and wearing the long robes and the scripture boxes.
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They do the outward appearance that people would think they're holy, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
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They're murderers. They stone the prophets that are sent to them as Jesus cries against them in Matthew 23.
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Zechariah, the prophet that they killed beside the altar. And here again, they've got the sword in their hand in the sacral system and they're willing to wield it against a completely innocent man.
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What did Lazarus ever do? Nothing. Wicked rulers.
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So is the answer secularism? Many people think that America is entirely a secular country.
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The constitution, when it was written, was not entirely secular. It left to the states the right to be whatever they wanted to be and the original states like Virginia and Pennsylvania, even
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New Jersey, had a Christian constitution, interestingly. Under the federal system, it was just that the national government could not impose any particular sectarian
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Christian religion. Now, the orthodoxy of our culture is entirely secular.
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Does secularism work? Think about this.
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If a people is so lacking in light, so without salt, then a majority of people would vote for a despot, a tyrant, a wicked ruler who is intent on murdering 60 million babies, let's say.
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If a majority of people do that, then the demos of the democracy, meaning the people who rule, in democracy, people rule, right?
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Under that secular system, if a majority are wicked, then itself becomes tyrannical.
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Secularism can't be the hope of the world because if a majority of people become wicked, then tyranny is established.
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Doug Wilson makes a great point about this. Doug Wilson said, if there is no transcendent authority over humanity, then humanity is
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God. If humanity is God, then everybody needs to quit it with their back chat.
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The God is apparently a capricious one, easily annoyed, and so we should just learn to roll with it.
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What he means is, if it's just a matter of society choosing what is right and whatever the majority thinks is the truth and that's how truth is established, then nobody should complain about anything that society does.
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And he goes on to make this point. If it wants to pull out the beating heart of victims on the top of Aztec pyramids, who are you to talk back to your
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God? You see, in the Aztec society, they considered it good to pull the beating hearts out of people as sacrifices to whatever their supposed gods were.
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Or he gets more poignant to our times than other times. It wants to castrate little boys in San Francisco hospitals.
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Who are you to talk back to your gods? Thus, may we dispatch the ardent secularists rather quickly.
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Doug Wilson is simply making the point that if society determines what's true and that shifts with times from the
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Aztecs to today and now the winds are changing and people have different morals, secularism cannot be the hope.
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It's capricious. It's arbitrary. It changes with time.
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And it often ends up in very wicked and dark places. Now from the text, is the hope to be a
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Christian nation? Well, in Israel, look at the rulers in verse 10.
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John 12, 10. These are the priests who bear political power.
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They bear the sword. And it says that their plan is to wield the sword to put
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Lazarus to death and to kill the son of God, Jesus himself.
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So the problem with having a system where religious leaders who represent
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God are governing is that infiltrators will come into the mix and in the name of God do the most wicked things on earth.
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Christianity has not even been able to hold on to denominations, let alone nations.
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If leftists can infiltrate the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church of America and the
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Episcopalians and every denomination over time drifts left because of this infiltration, how much more would they grab hold of the political power that was assembled in the name of Christ?
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So Christian nationalism and a Christian prince with blasphemy laws and things of this nature can never be the hope of the
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Christian. Because we see in the text where that ends up. They're using that very sword to kill the innocent.
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John 12, 10. Well, I would say that the answer here is that as Christians we prophetically call the government to be what
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God constituted it to be. Romans 13. The sword is put in the hand of government to punish wrongdoers.
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And that standard, the use of force should limit what the government is willing to do and able to do.
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We don't have the sword in our hands. The pastor doesn't bear the sword of government. But we cry out prophetically to say, do not murder.
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This is unjust. You don't have the sword to kill Lazarus or babies. You are under God.
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The church must prophetically speak to the government and keep it in its lane. Because government was not given the role of God on earth.
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It has a limited scope, a limited sphere. And it needs to stay within that.
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So our job is to call out to them and be the voice of moral conscience. And we know that by God's law.
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The moral law of God given in the Ten Commandments. Now, shout not murder. That's what we say.
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So this is our role. But go on now from verses 12 to 19. Because some,
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I think, miss the point that Jesus is king.
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He has already come as the king of the world. Verses 12 to 19.
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The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
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So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. Crying out, blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord. They're quoting from Psalm 118, the conqueror's psalm. Messianic, just verses earlier.
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It speaks that the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And here they explicitly add the declaration even the king of Israel.
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Jesus is the king of the world right now. He is king.
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He's blessed and declared to be the king. Verse 14. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it just as it is written.
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Now turn back with me to Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9. To get to Zechariah, it's the third from the last book in the
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Old Testament. So you gotta go backwards through Malachi. No, second to last,
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I'm sorry. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. And let's see this prophecy given of the coming king.
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Rejoice greatly, Zechariah 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
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Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you.
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Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
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Notice first of all that he is declared to be the king. But notice second of all how he approaches the throne.
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He's riding not on a white horse. We see that in Revelation 19.
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Here he's riding on a donkey. And not just a donkey, the foal of a donkey, the colt of a donkey.
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So the mother has the coats of the disciples and all of their belongings strewn over it and Jesus has humbly sat down on the colt.
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Matthew Henry describes this event and the humility of it by pointing out, if I can find it in my notes.
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I'm buying time here. It was the blood of the covenant typifying the blood of Christ in whom all
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God's covenants with man are yea and amen, that they were released out of captivity and this was but a shadow of the great salvation wrought out by thy king
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O daughter of Zion. Well where is the blood of the covenant in this passage?
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Keep reading. Verse 11. We'll get to it. Verse 10. First I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse for Jerusalem from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace to the nation.
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So does Jesus come as a warring prince to conquer? No, he cuts off the battle bow.
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He cuts off the war horse. He comes and speaks peace. His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.
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Now verse 11. And for you also because of the blood of my covenant with you,
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I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. In the context of Zechariah, the blood of the covenant speaks to the sprinkling of lamb blood over the people in Exodus 24.
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A covenant was given to them and they were told that if they disobey the covenant they will be sent into a foreign nation but if they call upon God he would regather them.
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Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 4. By the blood of the covenant they are brought back into the promised land.
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Zechariah promised that this would be the case. If that is the case as Matthew Henry points out for Israel, how much more does the blood of the new covenant bring us back to God?
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We here in this world are in a waterless pit. Zechariah 9 .11
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A waterless pit but it is by the blood of the covenant that the prisoner is set free and brought back.
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All this to say when our king came riding into Jerusalem he did not come as a warring prince.
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He came to give his blood in a sacrifice to bring to him all who would believe in his name.
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He came to lay down his life for those who would believe in his name and to gather into one a people for his own possession.
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We have a prophecy in Zechariah 9 .9 of a coming king but he comes humbly riding on a donkey.
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Now this is very important. This ought to set our expectation for what this world will be like with Christ as king before his second coming.
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You see the first time he came riding on a donkey he did establish a kingdom and he sat down on a throne in heaven at the right hand of God where he rules now.
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He is the king but what expectation should we have for this world until he comes again on a horse?
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Let's go back. John 12 20 -26 So set our expectation.
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Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. These came to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee and asked him,
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Sir we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew.
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Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Now just pause right there. We have some
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Greeks coming to see him during the time of this triumphal entry. It's unexpected because they're
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Gentiles. Jesus is the king of the Jews. They want to see
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Jesus. Why are they being introduced into this story? We'll find out.
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Jesus answered them. The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified.
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Truly truly I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone.
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But if it dies it bears much fruit. Unless a grain of wheat figuratively dies, it gets buried under the ground it will never come up and produce a harvest.
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And in the same way unless Jesus dies on the cross his kingdom will be populated by none of us.
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He will remain alone. He has to die to pay for our sins in order that there would be subjects of the kingdom.
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He goes on to say whoever loves his life loses it.
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And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
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If anyone serves me he must follow me and where I am there will my servant be also.
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If anyone serves me the father will honor him. So in the triumphal entry of the king do we have
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Jesus teaching a Christian nationalism where now you just need a Christian prince everything will be fine, your life on earth will go well.
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Or do you have the expectation set that in this world you will have trouble but take heart
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I have overcome the world. It is the second.
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The expectation that he sets is that even as he would be rejected and despised by men, crucified and killed to rise on the third day in the same way his followers will suffer.
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Look at verse 25 whoever loses his life this does not speak of honor and esteem in the culture this speaks of rejection and even the possibility of martyrdom and what happened for 300 years following the death of Christ as the
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Christian church was born was 10 waves of Roman persecution the government would light
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Christians up like torches and throw them to the lions reject them and they would be martyred.
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The expectation here following the triumphal entry is not one of Christian nationalism but one of rejection and being trampled underfoot in the world and Jesus feels the weight of it because he himself will go first the first to suffer the first to rise and verse 27 now is my soul troubled and what shall
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I say? Father save me from this hour but for this purpose I have come to this hour.
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Father glorify your name then a voice came from heaven
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I have glorified it and I will glorify it again the crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered others said an angel has spoken to him
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Jesus answered this voice has come for your sake not mine and he says in verse 31 now is the judgment of this world now will the ruler of this world be cast out when will
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Satan be crushed when will his head be stomped to the ground it is now at the cross.
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Genesis 315 had given the prophecy that the seed of the woman a human being would crush the head of the serpent the serpent is
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Satan and his seed are those who follow him the children of darkness when would the victory be won at the cross now is the judgment of this world now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
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Satan would strike Jesus in the heel but in his dying Jesus would crush
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Satan's head. Verse 32 and I when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself he'll explain what that lifting up is he said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die and of course that kind of death is crucifixion to be lifted up from the earth to be hung upon a cross to die to be rejected by the world how does he draw all people to himself does this mean that every person now will become a
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Christian that the world will become a Christian world is it every person head for head in the world will be drawn to him on account of his death no this answers the question as to why the
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Greeks came back in verse 21 saying sir we wish to see
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Jesus all people here refers to people from every ethnic group without distinction it's not just for Jews it's also for the
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Greek when it says all people will be drawn it means it is no longer a particularly
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Jewish religion but the dying of Jesus now will atone for whosoever will come to him through faith in the name of Jesus from Greece or from Japan from China or India from Russia or from the
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United States of America all people must come this way and to come is to be a victor in Christ he is crushed the head of the serpent and the victory the kingdom is in those who come the sons of light we'll finish with this in verse 33 he said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die so the crowd answered him we have heard from the law that the
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Christ remains forever they can't fathom this how can you say that the son of man must be lifted up who is this son of man they cannot reconcile in their minds a messiah who would have to die the
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Christ should reign forever how do you have him dying and buried they can't wrap their minds around it
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Jesus said to them the light is among you for a little while longer walk while you have the light lest darkness overtake you church should we expect that we are going to live in a world flooded by light or in this dark this present darkness darkness is coming says the lord darkness would overtake you then it says in verse 35 the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going blind immoral godless without God and without hope in the world this would be the characterization of those outside of Christ but here is the kingdom this is the kingdom offered to you and to whoever would come it says in verse 36 while you have the light believe in the light that you may become sons of light the king has come he is the light of the world but the world has not understood it the world is shrouded in darkness deceived by the enemy deceived by worldly ideologies and rejecting the king of kings so where is the kingdom it is in the sons of light the point of this passage is not to establish the kingdom here and now through the church the church does establish the kingdom in preaching the gospel so that sons of light are called out of this dark world to belong to Christ but the world itself remains dark so whatever political system is established there will be rulers and authorities who do not follow
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Christ they will be blinded to the light of the gospel and we cannot put our hope we cannot put our hope in a political system whether it be secular or sacral there will always be fallen men and women clamoring and achieving positions of power what then can we do the call of this passage is that you as a son of light would follow the king of kings no matter where he leads that you would be willing to speak truth into a dark world that you would be willing to say whatever your king tells you to say and go wherever he tells you to go you are a son and a daughter or a daughter of light in a dark world and the point of this passage is to say are you willing to follow your king even unto death what will become of the country that we so much love we have been incredibly blessed that the light of the gospel there have been so many sons of light in this land so much salt that it has restrained the wickedness of the world but this has not been the pattern through all history when you read about the things to come the eschatology it is not how the post -millennial reconstructionist describes in 1st and 2nd
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Thessalonians there is an apostasy a falling away so when you look out at the country at the continent of Europe and you say that was the former
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Christendom with a religious ruling class that claimed to be
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Christian as a pre -millennialist who understands this expectation here is what you can say
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I am not surprised that Europe has fallen into apostasy it must happen the apostasy had to come before the return of the king now you don't see the
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United States of America in prophecies of the end times that could be because of an exceptionality of this country that God would so bless and favor this country and preserve this country through salt and light that until the rapture comes we would remain so blessed
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I hope that's the case God can use the church to restrain the wickedness of the world but the trajectory of the
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United States of America has been toward Canada and Europe and the days are getting darker the darkness is coming over the land will there be a revival could it be that the gospel light is going to flood this country again
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I hope so but it may be that darker days are coming and if that's the case my question is where is your hope point of this sermon is to say do not put your hope in politics yes speak the truth and I am against the kind of pietism that says you know pastors can't say anything and Christians can't say anything no if there's someone about to murder
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Lazarus we need to speak up and say you don't bear the sword for that we speak truth we're not afraid to speak but we don't put our hope in politics our hope is in the return of the king a blessed hope the coming of Christ he is the only one that's going to make things right and he is coming he will be riding on a horse and he will conquer and he will trample underfoot the enemies of the kingdom and only the sons of light will be spared on that day so what is our commission stay focused on it go and make disciples preach the gospel at the community college and at Princeton and down in Camden and at your workplace become an evangelist because that's the point of the passage it's the sons of light to whom the kingdom is given and we don't know what this world will be like we have been so blessed but no matter what comes if your hope is in the second coming of Christ you have nothing to fear
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I don't think Lazarus was afraid of those who could kill the body because he's been there done that and he knows the one who resurrects the dead nothing to fear so it is in this world and so I guess the application is then as a son or daughter of the king how closely are you following him how is your walk with him are you obeying him is there some darkness that's been invading your life that's the issue you and your walk with Christ and are you willing to follow him even unto death let's pray father
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God this passage is so heavy and Lord Jesus you even said my soul is troubled
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God there is a heaviness about the direction of this country there is concern and our prayer
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Lord is that you would restrain the evil restrain the darkness through the sons of light the salt of the world we pray that you would hold back the evil of this land but even if things get darker we confess
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Lord that Jesus is king and our hope is in the second coming of Christ to establish a millennial kingdom and then an eternal state our hope is not in this world we are not of this world
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God strengthen your people today again to stay focused on preaching the gospel lifting up the son preaching
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Christ and him crucified help us not to be distracted but to remain focused on our king in whose name we pray amen facing a task unfinished that drives us to our knees a need that undiminished rebukes our slothful ease we who rejoice to know thee renew before thy throne the solemn pledge we owe thee we go to make you whole where other lords beside thee in unhindered sway where forces that divide thee defy thee still today with none to heed their crying our numbered souls are dying and cast into the abyss we go to all the wicked and hope undone no other name has vowed to save but Jesus Christ our
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Lord we bear the torch that flaming fell from the hands of those who gave their lives proclaiming that Jesus Christ is born a savior to all the world and kingdom for the first time
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Jesus O Father who sustained them
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O Spirit who inspired Savior whose love constrained them to dwell in different times defend us from every fornication we call
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Father save but Jesus Christ the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this is the
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Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it save us we pray
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O Lord O Lord we pray give us success blessed is he who comes in the name of the