The Breath of Eternal Life

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern,

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Minnesota We proclaim Christ and him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone

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And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg The Holy Gospel according to st.

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John chapter 15 verses 26 and 27 and chapter 16 verses 4 through 15

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Jesus said But when the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the

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Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father He will bear witness about me and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning but I said these things to you that When their hour comes you may remember what

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I took what that I told them to you. I Because I was with you

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But now I am going to him who sent me and none of you asked me. Where are you going?

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But because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart Nevertheless, I tell you the truth

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It is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you

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But if I go I will send him to you and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment

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Concerning sin because they do not believe in me Concerning righteousness because I go to the

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Father and you will see me no longer Concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.

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I still have many things to say to you But you cannot bear them now when the

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Spirit of truth comes He will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority

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But whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come

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He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you

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All that the father has is mine Therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

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This is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus Do y 'all remember the game freeze tag?

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Did you play that when you were kids? It kind of starts out, you know you everyone's on the playground and somebody's it somebody always has to be it and and it is kind of like a

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Shorthand for that's the evil one Don't let them touch you and then the way it works out is the one who is it has these magical powers?

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And if it touches you you have to freeze and of course You have to remain frozen until somebody comes along and unfreezes you with reverse it powers

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Apparently, this is how this works I always find it fascinating that even our games as children that we have kind of this good and evil thing going on Except for the game of life you guys remember the game of life.

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I hated that game Okay, I just remember as a grade school kid the girls who were really into the game of life

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It would a kind of got creepy You know because you get to that mandatory space where you have to get married and then like like that girl would look at you

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With like those hooks in her eyes and you're sitting to go and I'm not ready for commitment yet You know, I'm only eight, you know, so, you know, maybe that's a whole nother topic

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I'll have to be in therapy over that one. But anyway coming back. So freeze tag is our metaphor today

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Think of it this way each and every one of us scripture reveals that we were born dead and trespasses and sins

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Hate to kind of remind that to all of us but each of us from the very first Adam That is

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Adam and Eve Adam because he transgressed and broke God's covenant and ate of the tree that he was not to eat of listening to the serpent rather than to the voice of God has plunged us into the mire in the misery that we find ourselves in and That is a world that is cursed each and every one of us destined to die and it's well by God's grace that any one of us is still currently breathing and yet our lives are marked with suffering and Sorrow with pain and agony and we all have to work and to toil in order to put bread on the table rather than receive the good gifts of God freely when it comes to our sustenance and So as a result of the curse that we find ourselves in each and every one of us is in need of being revived frozen in sin

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This is what the church is about to be sent out to do with better powers than it

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Powers it powers are kind of cool when you're a kid But we actually have real power and our job is to go and unfreeze people from the statue cold stone

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Freezing of sin and to bring them new life and we'll talk about that now think of it this way 50 days ago today's

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Pentecost 50 days ago Christ was crucified for our sins That's what happened 50 days ago and if you remember in the book of Genesis At the very first Adam when

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God formed him. He kind of took him formed his body from the dust and there sat or laid the lifeless body of Adam and God breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living soul and so 50 days ago

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There was the lifeless body The non -breathing body of the second

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Adam and on Easter Sunday on the third day the

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Holy Spirit and the father Raised him from the grave and gave him new life and he now is seeking his bride

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That's each and every one of us. And so in order to do this He's given us as a church a task the task

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We heard just a couple weeks ago is to go and proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus's name to all nations to everybody to tell them of the good news that you do not have to stand in judgment and lose eternal life and spend eternity in Anguish and suffering because of your sin because Christ has paid the penalty for every one of your sins and so the call of the gospel is to repent and believe and The so that you don't think it's your job then to convince people or your job to raise them from the grave

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To waken them out of the cold freeze of the satanic freeze tag that has beset us all

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Instead it's not your job. It's the job of the Holy Spirit and that's kind of the point

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So let's return to our gospel text and we'll note some of the highlights here. What Jesus is saying to us today regarding the

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Holy Spirit Jesus says in John chapter 15 verses 26 and 27 when the helper comes what a great name the helper

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Yeah to refer to the Holy Spirit. It's like listen All this heavy lifting of raising people from the grave bringing to penitent faith in Christ So I'm gonna send you a helper the helper is gonna do all the heavy lifting

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All you got to do is tell people about Jesus the helper whom I will send to you from the father the spirit of truth

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Love how the Holy Spirit is referred to as the spirit of truth You can always tell a false Holy Spirit because the false

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Holy Spirit always seems to be telling vague lies Fascinating thing But the true

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Holy Spirit is all about the truth and he proceeds from the father and he will bear witness about me

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So you notice Jesus sends him and he proceeds from the father That's why we say in the creed that he proceeds from the father and the son

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You also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning now talking about the

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Apostles But I have said these things to you that when that their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you

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So Jesus literally as he's getting ready to be crucified for our sins is

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Promising the disciples that when the right time comes after he is ascended He's going to send the

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Holy Spirit and I did not say these two things to you from the beginning because I was with you But now

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I'm going to him who sent me and none of you ask. Where are you going? But because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart

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Nevertheless, I tell you the truth It's to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you and quite the helper

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He is but if I go I will send him to you and when he comes Listen to what

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Jesus then says the Holy Spirit will do then the reason I have to highlight these facts is because there's a lot of bad teaching about the

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Holy Spirit kind of running around the The the church today as if somehow when the

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Holy Spirit comes on you he's gonna cause you to bark like a dog or get down on all fours and behave like an animal or fall to the ground and convulse

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With uncontrollable shaking as if you're a demoniac That's not what the Holy Spirit does.

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That's not the Holy Spirit doing that type of stuff instead listen to what he says the

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Holy Spirit is going to come and he's going to convict the world concerning sin

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Okay. Now this gets a little uncomfortable I don't know if you've noticed this but we live in a day when people don't exactly like it when you

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Tell them something that makes them feel like well, they're a sinner

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Ever had that happen to you, you know, who are you to judge me? You calling me a sinner?

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Yes, I Because you are and so am I Let's see, that's the thing is that what did

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Jesus do on the cross? Why was he hanging on the tree? Bleeding and dying for our sins and the good news of the gospel

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Which we've been given to proclaim is that Christ has died for our sins died in our place

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So if people aren't convicted of their sins They're not going to need a

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Savior It's fascinating and was talking with a fellow this past weekend who was telling me that he is a church planter in New York City and New Yorkers Yeah, especially

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New York men Well, they always have to put up a very strong front of being strong in Charge never making any mistakes.

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Have any of you noticed that Donald Trump never really kind of lets on that He's ever made a mistake. It's kind of fascinating and he this church planner told me he said

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Donald Trump is the quintessential Newyorker and the guys of New York get it and he says this is really difficult place to actually preach the gospel

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Because For a New Yorker to say, you know, you're right.

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I screwed up especially New York mail That for them would like be the beginning of the end

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Isn't that interesting? So that being the case, how would we be able to convince a

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New Yorker? You know somebody like Donald Trump listen, dude. You're not as great as you think you are.

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In fact, you're Well a sinner Are we gonna be able to convince them of that No, this is why

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Jesus sends us a helper You see this is the job of the Holy Spirit and you can tell the

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Spirit is at work when people are Undone by the preaching think of the you know that what we are text from Acts 2

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We don't get the whole thing But there's Peter preaching Jesus on the day of Pentecost and if you just look at the end of the sermon

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What does it say about those who were hearing him? They were cut to the quick It says kind of King James English right there cut to the heart and they cried out brothers.

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What shall we do? And what does Peter say repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your sins and see that's how you can

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Tell the Holy Spirit is at work when people sit there and go, you know I've really really messed up I've Grievously fallen short

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I've sinned against God. I've sinned against my neighbors Who's gonna save me you see that's the work of the

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Spirit So when Jesus sends the helper the helper is going to convict the world of sin because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness because I go to the

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Father and see the Holy Spirit also then can Convicts people concerning righteousness.

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Well, that is the righteousness of God given by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and it's the

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Holy Spirit who works faith in people and you will he says Concerning righteousness because I go to the

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Father You'll see me no longer and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. I love that He doesn't say we're judged.

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He says the ruler of this world. That would be Satan is judged. And so he's there talking about sin faith that saves and the hope of the world to come hope of actually finally being set free from the curse and the tyranny of the devil himself and Jesus says then

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I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now But when the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth not lies

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That's what the Holy Spirit does he guides you into truth for he will not speak on his own authority Whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come and then last of all

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The Holy Spirit will glorify me Jesus says you can always tell a false

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Holy Spirit because that Holy Spirit always glorifies human beings or Glorifies the fellow claiming to have that spirit.

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Have you ever watched like, you know, one of those kind of sketchy Christian Channels and somebody is sitting there going.

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Oh, oh I can feel a spirit right now and all let me tell you the spirits Telling me right now that all you're gonna get a million bucks as soon as you send me a thousand

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You sit there going, you know That's kind of weird because I'm hearing nothing about Jesus and by you making that claim

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There's kind of a lot of glory going to you by this Holy Spirit like none to Jesus But see the true

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Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth He really doesn't point anybody to himself or even those who preach the gospel

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That Holy Spirit always points people to Jesus It's all about him the

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King of Kings the Lord of Lords the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world your sin and mine and so always pay attention

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There's false Holy Spirits running around out there masquerading as the Holy Spirit but the true

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Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and unbelief and righteousness and judgment and glorifies

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Christ he will glorify me He'll take what is mine and declare it to you all that the father has is mine

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Therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you And so then when we look at Acts chapter 2 with the arrival of the promised helper

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The helper who will do all of the heavy lifting. It is glorious Acts chapter 2 1 says when the day of Pentecost arrived 50 days after the

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Lamb of God was slain the day of Pentecost arrived all the Christians were all together in one place in an upper room and Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind it filled the entire house where they were sitting and like a freight train coming through and Divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each of them and they were all

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Filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the

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Spirit gave them utterance And so you're going to notice this is that how does the

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Spirit operate? through words words simple common ordinary words

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People were miraculously through the helper Given the ability to tell other people from other countries who spoke other languages they were able to tell them the wonders of Christ that he had bled and died for their sins to call

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Them to repentance and the strange thing that was is that some of the folks were Galileans Galileans weren't exactly known for being the sharpest pencils in the pencil box so this kind of Freaked him out a little bit now that we're dwelling in Jerusalem at the time

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Jews devout men from every nation under heaven At this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own

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Language and they were amazed and they were astonished saying are not all of these who are speaking

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Galileans How is it that we hear each of them in his own native language?

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Parthenians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia Judea Cappadocia Pontius in Asia Phrygia Pamphylia Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome both

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Jews and proselytes Cretans and Arabians We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty

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Works and there is no mightier work of God then that Jesus Christ true

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God Was born of the Virgin Mary and came to save you and to save me suffered under Pontius Pilate for our sins and rose from the grave so that we can be

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Forgiven and so you'll see here now that the helper is Helping those who've been given the task of going out and playing the ultimate game of freeze tag and Unfreezing people who've been put under the freezing power of the devil and he's given them words to speak

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But think of it this way the word for spirit is the same word for breath

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So rather than touching somebody to unfreeze them We breathe on them the words of God and just like Adam was raised and made a living being when

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God Breed the spirit on them we now through the helper when we breathe out these words

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Jesus died for you This now becomes the breath of eternal life

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Raising people from the grave Forgiving them of their sins Giving them hope of a world to come uniting them with Christ This is

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Really cool. This is the best game ever and It's the spirit the helper hate to say it.

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He's doing all the real work We we barely should be able to say we're actually helping

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It's quite scandalous that we sinners get to breathe out these words and the

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Holy Spirit coming from our unholy bodies and mouths

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Raises people to life Mmm, so much better than that game of life.

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Just saying so much better So Peter standing with the eleven

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Lift up his voice and address the people men of Israel men of Judea at all who dwell in Jerusalem Let this be known to you and give ear to my words.

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These men are not drunk as you suppose It's only the third hour of the day This is what was up uttered by the

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Prophet Joel and in the last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh

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Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and to prophesy is to tell people of the wonders of God Your young men shall see visions your old men shall dream dreams and even on my male

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Servants and female servants in those days. I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy Tell the wonders of God.

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I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below blood and fire vapor of smoke

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The Sun will be turned to darkness the moon to blood that happened when Christ was on the cross before the day of the

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Lord comes the great and magnificent day and then he Ends this portion of a sermon with these words and it shall come to pass

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That everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved saved from God's wrath saved from the fires of hell

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Saved and have eternal life. What an amazing Amazing set of words a sentence coming from the

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Spirit speaking through Peter and So these words originally spoken 2 ,000 years ago are now taken up in my mouth and should be taken up in yours as well

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For it is most certainly true and the Spirit bears witness because the Spirit is truth

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That all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved Even you even me there is nothing that you have done that puts you outside of this mercy and forgiveness and I am assuming that because you are here

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You believe that you are in need of it Because the Spirit that helper has convicted you and let you know just how far short you have fallen from the glory of God and like me

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You know that if we were to stand before God all of us in our own Righteousness that not a single one of us would be able to stand on that day of judgment

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But see the good news is that Christ has taken your penalty. He's taken your sins He's taken your worst sins and even the ones that you think were no big deal

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Which still would have condemned you? he's taken them upon himself and bled and died for them and Now we have good news to proclaim all who call on the name of the

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Lord Shall be saved Every one of them so trust these words

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Hang on to these words These words are breathed into by the

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Holy Spirit. They are living and active and they give us hope and take these words that all who call on the name of the

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Lord will be saved and Breathe them on your neighbors and Watch the helper unfreeze them from the cold cold statue

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Curse of the devil the breath of eternal life

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Lord Jesus. Thank you For such an awesome helper Give us boldness that we may proclaim and breathe these words and Through these words the

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Holy Spirit the helper would unfreeze more people Unbind them from the clutches of the devil transfer them from the dominion of darkness into the glorious kingdom of light

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We thank you Lord for such a precious Precious helper in the name of Jesus.

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Amen if you would like to support the teaching ministry of kungsvinger lutheran church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to kungsvinger lutheran church 159 50 470th

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Avenue Northwest Oslo, Minnesota 567 4 4 and again that address is kungsvinger lutheran church 159 5 0 470th