The Greatest

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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Mark chapter 9 verses 30 through 37. They left that place and they passed through Galilee.

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Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples.

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He said to them, the Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him and after three days he will rise.

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But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. They came to Capernaum.

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When he was in the house he asked them, what were you arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

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Sitting down Jesus called the twelve and said, if anyone wants to be first he must be the very last and the servant of all.

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He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms he said to them, whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.

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In the name of Jesus. Alright this is an embarrassing text and the reason why it's so embarrassing is because I think each and every one of us are guilty of things just like this.

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Our text begins where it left off last week. If you remember last week the disciples didn't exactly have their greatest successes.

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Jesus went up on the mountain of transfiguration. He took with him Peter James and John. They got to see his glory, hear the voice of the

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Father, declared that this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. They come down from the mountain and the other nine who didn't go up the mountain were in an argument with the

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Pharisees and the scribes. What was the argument about? Well some poor man whose child was demon -possessed had come to get help from the disciples and the disciples tried to cast it out and nothing happened.

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Absolutely nothing happened. This isn't one of those things that's going to show up on the highlight reel.

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You know what I'm saying? This is more like the disciples greatest bloopers. What it should be reading.

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So Jesus interceded. He ended up casting out the demon and the disciples asked the question why couldn't we do this?

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He says well this kind only comes out through prayer. That's the verse immediately before.

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This kind only comes out through prayer. So the disciples just had another thing to add to their blooper reel and then we hear this.

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They left that place. They're heading back now to Galilee, back to Israel and Jesus didn't want anyone to know where they were.

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They ended up taking some back roads if you would and the reason for this is because he was teaching his disciples. Remember when

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Moses and Elijah met with Jesus they were discussing his exodus which means his departure to Israel to go to the cross to suffer and to die for our sins and then rise again on the third day from the grave.

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So Jesus begins to tell his disciples this quite plainly. These words are not difficult to get.

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Here are Jesus's words. Boys the son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.

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They will kill him and after three days he will rise. Seems pretty straightforward doesn't it?

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Nothing confusing about that. Well the text says this. They didn't understand what he meant so they were afraid to ask him.

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What's this dying and rising thing? What what do you mean? Jesus preaches to them all about what he's going to accomplish for them on the old rugged cross.

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How he's going to go to Jerusalem and how the Father is going to place on him the sin of us all and how he is going to propitiate the wrath of God.

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How he's going to suffer, bleed, die, drink to the dregs the full wrath of God so that we don't have to atone for our sins.

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And they go what's he talking about? But they were afraid to ask him about it.

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So no sooner does, I don't know what Jesus is talking about, no sooner does Jesus get these words out and they don't understand it that they then commence in having an argument.

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Oh this is a great one. This is a great argument. Which of them is the greatest? What kind of boneheaded argument is this to have?

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Nine of them just couldn't cast out a demon. The blooper reel is getting longer and you guys are going to have an argument about who's the greatest.

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Let's rewind the tape a little bit here. They've witnessed Jesus walking on the water, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, giving the ability to hear to the deaf, giving speech to the mute, feeding multitudes with only loaves and fishes.

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And they're going to ask the question and have an argument about who is the greatest. Are you guys brain dead?

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Are you on drugs? What on earth are you thinking?

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There is the greatest right there among you and you're squabbling about who's the greatest.

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You couldn't cast out a demon, Jesus could, and you're having an argument about who's the greatest.

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The greatest is Jesus. Don't you get it? And by the way, the fact that this little story is in the

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Gospel of Mark, as embarrassing as it is, actually lends credibility that this is eyewitness testimony.

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Because if this were written centuries later by people who are trying to write a mythology, they wouldn't include details like this.

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Generally, I don't know if you've noticed this, when people write things, they have a tendency to aggrandize, you know, to make themselves look good.

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The disciples over and again honestly tell the story. And honestly telling the story requires them to say, yeah, listen,

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Jesus was speaking, we were hearing words, it might as well have been Charlie Brown's teacher. He was preaching the most beautiful words, the most amazing

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Gospel, announcing something that was beyond our comprehension. And then rather than ask him to explain it to us, we were afraid to do so, and no sooner did

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Jesus tell us about going to the cross, where it was quickly out of our mind and we were having a squabble about who is the greatest.

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Now like I said at the beginning of the sermon, the reason why this is embarrassing is because I've done this same stupid thing too.

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And if you're honest, so have you, how many of us are obsessed in our thinking about making sure that everybody knows how great we are?

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I want everybody to know how wealthy I am, so I'm gonna go and I'm gonna buy the most expensive car possible.

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I want everybody to know how much money I have, so I'm gonna buy the most expensive clothes and get one of those bags that has like one of those

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Italian names on it, so that everybody knows how great I am. I'm gonna wear one of those shirts with one of those logos and that logo lets everybody know

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I've arrived, right? Just think of all of the different ways in which we try to telegraph to everybody how great we are.

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And you know what that is? That is idolatry. That's idolatry.

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Not only is it idolatry, it's satanic idolatry.

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Because we read in Isaiah 14 about the devil, where the devil says, I will ascend to the highest heaven.

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I will. Everyone will bow to me. And we read in the book of Revelation that when the

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Antichrist appears, he will exalt himself above everything that is called God, so that the whole world worships him.

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But each and every one of us are just like the devil, and we really want everybody to tell us how great we are.

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In little ways, we really relish the thought of somebody saying, you know, you are just so great.

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That's what we want, and it's satanic. It's wicked to the core, and it's evil.

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It is self -idolatry. It is making yourself God. There are people burning in hell right now because of this sin.

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Is this not the temptation of the devil in the Garden of Eden? Eat of this fruit, because you will be like God.

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In all the different kinds of ways, we desire to be like God, and we want our religion to, in a way, glorify us rather than Jesus.

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We don't have room in our minds to comprehend a dying and risen

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Savior. We're like the disciples. We hear those words, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.

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Let's get on to the important stuff. Let's talk about how great I am. Is that not how we are?

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Do we despise the hearing of the gospel? Do we not understand the way of the cross?

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Who here is not saying, ouch, inside of their conscience? I know

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I am saying that, because I'm guilty of this like you wouldn't believe. So Jesus asked them when they got to Capernaum, what are you arguing about?

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It says they kept silent. Why? Utterly embarrassed.

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It's another one of those fig leaf moments. Remember in the garden? Adam and Eve sinned.

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Where are you? Hiding. This time they're hiding with silence. They kept quiet, because on the way they'd argue about who was the greatest, just in hearing

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Jesus ask a question, what were you arguing about, they realized, oh my goodness, what have we done?

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It's important to note here that Jesus is kind, and he's merciful. He doesn't scold them.

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He doesn't say, all right, that's it. You guys are gone. You know, let's go look and find twelve other guys that can do this.

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You guys clearly aren't getting it. He didn't do a Donald Trump on them.

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You're fired. Right? Instead, Jesus understands that it's through patient instruction and the work of the

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Holy Spirit that we come to understand the glory of the cross, the thing that everybody despises, the shame of that thing.

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You think about what the cross really represented to those who are alive when crucifixion was still an in thing.

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I mean, we have jewelry now. People wear crosses. They look beautiful. I mean, I always loved the 24 karat gold ones, you know, that are very elaborate and stuff like that.

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Everybody's got a cross. I mean, some of us have crosses, even if they don't believe in Jesus. I mean, it's the in vogue piece of jewelry to have.

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But for people living at the time of Jesus, they would never have thought to put a cross on a gold chain and wear it as a piece of jewelry.

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And you know what the reason for that is? The reason for that simple is because they'd seen what happens to people who are killed that way.

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It was designed to be the most gruesome, horrifying, spectacularly awful thing to look at and experience.

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We have words that are derivative of the word crucify. The word excruciating comes from that.

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When we describe something that painfully as excruciating, it comes from crucifixion. These are people who the

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Roman Empire basically said, you are going to be made an example of. We're going to let everybody know what happens to people who oppose our laws, break our laws, or go against our authority.

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We're going to nail you on a cross, stark naked after flogging you, and then you're going to die.

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And it's not going to happen quickly, it's going to happen really slowly. And it was the lowest of the low who were crucified, and everyone who was crucified according to the

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Mosaic Covenant was considered cursed. Because God's law says, cursed is everyone who's hung on a tree.

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So Jesus tells them of the cross, and none of it registers with them.

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Does it register with you? You want to know the consequences of sin in their full magnitude?

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You look at Jesus bleeding and dying on the cross. You want to know what it cost to save you from your selfish idolatry and worship of yourself?

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You look at the cross, and on the cross you see the exact opposite of you glorifying yourself.

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You see the one who is God by nature, humbling himself and becoming obedient, and having all of your idolatry, your self -love, your wretched sinfulness placed on himself, and him serving you in the process and serving the whole world.

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Jesus didn't exalt himself on the cross. That is the place of Jesus's ultimate humiliation, the ultimate emptying of himself.

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Emptying of himself even to the point of losing his own life willfully because of his great love for you.

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And that's what Jesus is preaching about, and it just goes over their heads. Beloved, I have great news that though the disciples didn't understand it,

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Jesus kept his word. What he said was true. He did go to Jerusalem.

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He was betrayed. He was handed over to men. They did kill him, and he did rise again.

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And all of this he did out of his great love for you because God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were yet sinners,

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Christ died for our sins. So while the disciples were arguing about who's the greatest, the greatest goes to the cross and bleeds and dies for them.

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And now Jesus gives them a little bit of an object lesson. Boys, come over here. Sitting down,

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Jesus called the disciples to himself. He said, if anyone would be first, he must be the very last and the servant of all.

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In that sentence, Jesus is describing himself. Who is the one who was the servant of all, who humbled himself and served the whole world?

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It was only Jesus, and he did it for you and he did it for me. And then he took a little child, had him stand among them.

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Taking him in his arms, he said, whoever welcomes one of these little children, and here's the important part, in my name, in the name of Jesus, welcomes me.

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Whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me. You got to keep in mind back then, children didn't represent glory.

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They represented a lot of work. They didn't participate in the gross national product, right?

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They are humble, and they can only be given to. I don't know if you've noticed this about children, especially small children.

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They don't have a tendency to wake up in the morning and sing the praises of their parents. Instead, they wake up in the morning and say,

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I'm hungry. I got to go potty. I don't feel well. I'm bored. Play with me, right?

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And see, that's the way of the cross. The way of the cross is loving and serving your neighbor humbly for the sake of Christ because you've been set free in him, right?

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So keep this in mind. Today we witnessed God bringing into his church two new members,

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Kinsley and Mason. A miracle took place. Although it looked only like water was poured on their head,

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Mason didn't enjoy the experience, clearly, right? And see, those are the last gasps of his sinful nature.

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So, now drowned in the waters of his baptism. But we welcome them in our congregation this morning.

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Welcome them as members because a miracle took place. You couldn't see what was happening spiritually.

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All you saw was what happened physically with your eyes. But what you saw with your eyes was water, and that's the sign to you from God.

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The sign to you from God that God was at work there this morning, washing away sins, circumcising their hearts, making them clean and white as snow, and applying the death and resurrection of Jesus to them individually, and raising them from the grave.

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That's what Scripture says happens in our baptisms. And all of you who've made this trip to the font, you too have been washed.

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Your sins have been blotted out. You have been made new in Christ Jesus. And as a result of the powerful working of Christ and Him applying what

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He did on the cross to you as an individual, you have confidence that you have a right standing before God.

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And now having been set free from sin, death, and the devil, we're able to say to our sinful nature who wants to be glorified, not today sinful nature.

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Today, we're going to deny ourselves. We're going to take up our crosses and follow

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Christ. Today, we will love God, and we will humbly serve our neighbors in need.

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Not for my glory, but for His. Not for my exaltation, so that people can see

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Christ at work in me. This is what our gospel text teaches us, and what an amazing gift that God has given us, that He has set us free, washed away our sins, forgiven us, and hasn't scolded us, and hasn't said to us to hell with you like we deserve.

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Instead, He mercifully forgives, teaches, and comforts us with the assurance that He is the greatest, who has humbled

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Himself and served us all by going to the cross. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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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, 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. And again, that address is

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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. We thank you for your support.

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All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.