The House of David Betrayed

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. Matthew, the first chapter.

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Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph.

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Before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband

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Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things behold an angel of the

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Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the

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Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.

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All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name

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Emmanuel which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep he did as the angel of the

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Lord commanded him. He took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name

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Jesus. This is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus. Have you ever noticed that we have to learn lessons through repetition?

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Have you ever noticed? Maybe it's not just me. I will note that my kids suffer from the same ailment that I have and that is that sometimes lessons don't sink in on the first hearing or the second.

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Now as a pastor I must tell you that I have seen this happen before. You'll note that we follow a lectionary and by following a lectionary

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I preached the same texts every three years and you'll note then that oftentimes even if I'm not preaching the exact same text we'll be teaching the same doctrine from a different text roughly the same time every year.

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We go through the whole thing and I've been here now for five and a half years and always and again it's really funny when somebody comes up to me and says oh pastor wow

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I've never seen that before. I'm sitting there going I've been preaching that for five and a half years but then again

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I note that my wife has to tell me over and over and over again to do certain things and at times it's like talking to a brick wall but that's for another time.

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We don't do marriage therapy here. So anyway all of that being said one of the recurring and I mean recurring themes that goes on in the scriptures is that bad guys attacking

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Israel produces God acting in mighty acts of salvation which turns into this big picture of the salvation that we experience.

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Remember the Old Testament is the symbols the types and the shadows so you think of the book of Judges and the book of Judges well you get some flea -bitten tribe you know like the

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Midianites or the the Moabites or the Edomites or the Uptites or the Balletites. Israel has sinned against God so God puts them under under their dominion and they languish there for decades and then

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God raises up a judge and through a mighty act of salvific exploits frees them from under this oppression and then the cycle starts over again and it just you kind of get the idea but it happens so repeatedly that you sit there and go you know

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I wonder if God's like trying to teach me something here because I feel like I'm hearing the same lesson over and over and over again.

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I'm gonna go with it's probably true. Consider then this in our Old Testament text

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I'm gonna back up into the context a little bit so you can see what's going on here in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 1 we come across the king of Judah who is a direct descendant of David so he's of the house of David that's kind of a big category right and well wouldn't you know it the king of Syria the king of the northern kingdom of Israel the two of them have joined forces wonder twin powers activate they've sent an army down to Jerusalem they haven't been able to launch an attack yet and wouldn't you know it

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Ahaz and all the people of Jerusalem are in fear here's what it says now in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham the son of Uzziah the king of Judah Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Ramaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it but could not yet mount an attack against it and when the house of David was told

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Syria is in league with Ephraim the hearts of Ahaz and the heart of the people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind

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I mean talk about betrayal I mean when you have your own kin in the northern kingdom joining forces with Syria to attack

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Jerusalem and everybody here is going what are we gonna do what are we gonna do and into the situation

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God doesn't chastise them for their fear doesn't scold them at all instead

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God does something amazing he sends the Prophet Isaiah and the

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Prophet Isaiah is given a message basically saying don't worry be happy God is going to rescue you and this will not happen they will not be successful have faith and trust in me hmm that sounds kind of familiar but well

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I'm getting ahead of myself so let me keep reading so Yahweh said to Isaiah you go to meet Ahaz you and your son

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Shear Jashub your son at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field and you say to them be careful be quiet do not fear do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands at the fear and at the fierce anger of resin and Syria and the son of Ramaliah because Syria with Ephraim and the son of Ramaliah has devised evil against you saying let us go up against Judah and terrify it let us conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of in the midst of it thus says the

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Lord God it shall not stand it shall not come to pass for the head of Syria is

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Damascus the head of Damascus is resin and within 65 years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people and the head of Ephraim is

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Samaria and head of Samaria is the son of Ramaliah and then listen to these words if you're not firm in faith you will not be firm at all

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God is saying trust me I will deliver you I will rescue you

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I will keep this calamity from happening to you it's a picture of salvation if you would well as the story continues again

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Yahweh spoke to Ahaz and he said ask a sign of Yahweh your

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God and note the words your God God is saying listen you don't believe me ask me for any sign you want let it be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven

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I mean if Ahaz had said all right here's what I'd like you to do I'd like you to send a comet from the deepest regions of outer space near Tatooine I'd like it to soar right in and come right between the rings of Saturn do a loop -de -loop around Jupiter skim the surface of the moon and then right in the sky woohoo

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Yahweh reigns my ideas of signs are a little out there but I mean if you're gonna ask for a big sign might as well make it big right you know when

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NASA's sitting there going what just happened right but if he had asked for that the

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Lord would have given it to him and he's saying listen trust me if you need a sign if you're not sure ask me for anything any sign and I'll prove it to you so that there's no doubt in your mind because if you're not firm in your faith you're not firm in anything at all and what does

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Ahaz do he covers his unbelief in a veneer of piety which is ridiculous you know it so I mean there's like boneheaded moves out there all right in the annals of human history boneheaded moves starting a land war in Asia that's a bad thing to do okay it usually ends up poorly for the person who started the land war but second to that is this so Ahaz says

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I will not ask I will not put Yahweh to the test it was the

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Lord who himself who said to ask for a sign and now Isaiah speaks up and I want you to pay attention to one little phrase because this one little phrase in the text kind of helps us out a little bit here so we said here then

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Oh house of David now is Ahaz only being addressed here nope so now

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Isaiah is going to speak and he's going to give a sign who's the sign given to the house of David that's important because it'll play into our gospel text here by the way this is all like the introduction to the sermon we're not even in it yet don't don't pay don't panic we'll land the plane on time all right so he says here then

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Oh house of David is it too little for you to worry men that you weary my God also therefore the

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Lord himself will give you a sign and here it is and by the way who's the sign given to the house of David behold the

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Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name Emmanuel now every

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Hebrew speaker would know exactly what that means they don't need to be told if Manuel means

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God with us now that's a good sign God with us so he said he shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good for before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted the

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Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah the king of Assyria and you'll note something here then that I said this was a boneheaded move on the part of Ahaz by not asking the

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Lord for a sign when the Lord told him to so the Lord has given a sign to the house of David but you'll note this sign doesn't show up in Ahaz's lifetime and rather than getting a child whose name is

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Emmanuel in chapter 8 Ahaz gets a sign and that sign is a son born to Isaiah whose name is

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Maharshalal Hoshbaz which doesn't it means just just think of it as like it means death and destruction that's not really what it means but you kind of get the idea so rather than getting

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Emmanuel he gets Maharshalal Hoshbaz all because of his lack of faith but as the story goes the sands of time ticking the way they do

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Ahaz finally dies in this scheme of Ramaliah and Pekah comes to nothing and Ahaz goes to be with his father and Israel continues in sin and the kings get more and more evil they persist in idolatry and eventually they're taken into the

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Babylonian captivity they return a remnant of them and yet the sign that God had said to look for still has not appeared the sign that God gave to the house of David and now we come to our gospel text that forms the basis we have an a sign that has yet to appear now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way

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Matthew writes and you'll note man right out there he hangs it out there who Jesus is Jesus is the

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Messiah because Christ as many people have pointed out is not Jesus's last name a

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Christos is an anointed one so to say that Jesus is the

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Christ is to say that he is the Messiah that he is the Messiah so Matthew puts it right out there in chapter 1 the birth of Jesus the

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Messiah took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child from the

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Holy Spirit and her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly so think of it this way the house of David has gone into obscurity and the rightful heir of the throne of David is a man named

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Joseph who's working as a carpenter and the word for carpenter could also be construction worker he's just a blue -collar hard -working kind of guy you need something built he can build it you need to have your house built he can help you build your house and so rather than living in a palace being robed in purple and wearing a crown he wears a tool belt swings a hammer and his hands are calloused and worn now a little bit of a note here the ancient church tells us in their writings that Joseph was significantly older than Mary and if we're to believe this that might explain a few things for instance the last time

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Joseph appears in the pages of scripture is when Jesus is 12 years old

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Jesus as a 12 year old remember he went missing in the temple for three days that's the last time that Joseph appears you'll note that in the gospel of Mark when

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Jesus's family shows up to to take Jesus to the loony bin because they thought he'd lost his mind

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Joseph wasn't part of that posse and then at the cross Mary was there but Joseph wasn't and so maybe the ancient church is telling us the truth that Joseph had some years maybe a few decades on Mary now

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I know this might sound difficult to understand but back in the day marriages were not done or they didn't happen because of love that's not why you would get married to somebody marriage was more of a survival thing and marriages were strategic and so and girls because they they didn't have the ability to produce money or own land oftentimes were seen as an obligation and so we'll know it was a common practice in those days that young girls 14 as early as 14 would be married off and no later than 18

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I mean by then you know it's you're pushing thing pushing and keep in mind the average life expectancy back in the day 30 35 so guys would have their midlife crisis in high school you know sorry but you kind of get the idea so if Joseph is up in age if he's a decade or two decades older than Mary that's not an uncommon thing but note everybody knows how women get pregnant and it doesn't just happen out of thin air they didn't they didn't have the science journals that we have they've never seen the photographs we've seen of microscopic seeds and eggs and how that all that whole process works they just know that virgins don't give birth and so you'll note here that when

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Mary informs Joseph that she is pregnant she does inform him that it is by the

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Holy Spirit and Joseph doesn't believe her he doesn't believe her and so maybe a good way to view this text is that it says that Joseph is a just man and he was unwilling to put her to shame maybe a good way to think about it is is that being older than her he just said well she's clearly in love with somebody else and by divorcing her quietly it gives her the opportunity to marry the father of the child rather than having her stoned for sexual immorality he wants her to be free to marry for love that's pretty cool and we'll note something here it makes sense

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I mean what older man would think that a 15 year old girl would be comfortable in a marriage like that and there's nothing worse in a marriage than not being loved it's just terrible and so note now the

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Lord intervenes so as he considered these things behold an angel of the

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Lord appeared to him in a dream and we'll note it doesn't say which angel it is

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I like to think it's Gabriel because Gabriel appeared to Zechariah Gabriel appeared to Mary all right good chance it's

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Gabriel but the text doesn't say my my bed is on Gabriel so the angel of the

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Lord appears to him in the dream and listen to what he says Joseph son of David whoa whoa whoa whoa slow down there do you think that well

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Joseph was working in Nazareth a backwater village in Galilee as a carpenter as a day laborer that people would say hey

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Joseph you son of David here do they recognize that he was the king probably not but see the

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Lord knows and you'll note that the angel he addresses

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Joseph by the fact that he is the rightful heir of the throne of David Joseph son of David so now the angel is speaking to who the house of David who was the sign given to the house of David do not fear to take

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Mary as your wife and I'm sure there was all kinds of anxiety about that because virgins just don't give birth they don't conceive do not fear to take

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Mary as your wife that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit and there it is that's the sign you mean she was telling the truth she really is a virgin you betcha and so note here this is the difference the sign that God said to Ahaz you just ask me for anything and I'll give it to you

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I'll give you a sign Ahaz says no I'm not gonna put the Lord to the test that's unbelief but now the sign appears to the house of David and with the words of the angel

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Joseph goes oh the virgin has conceived and will give birth and he will be

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Emmanuel and rather than responding in unbelief to the sign we see by his actions he responds in belief you see if you do not have faith if you're not confident in your faith you won't be confident in anything at all and so he responds in faith so furthermore the angel says this she will bear a son and you shall call his name and we'll use the

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Hebrew here yes you are Yahweh saves hmm wasn't what that the whole story about Ahaz that the

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Lord would save them from the king of Syria from the king of Israel the Lord was going to save yeah so Jesus his name is

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Yahweh saves for that which and so do not fail to take her as your wife he will and he will be called

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Yeshua for he will save his people from their sins and all this took place to fulfill what the

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Lord has spoken by the Prophet behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call him

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Emmanuel which means God with us I remember what I said the

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Old Testament types and shadows pictures of God's salvation but now this sign is not merely for the house of David because now we're in on it we know that the sign has appeared brothers and sisters we are getting ready to celebrate the birth of our great

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God and Savior which when you say it like that sounds so crazy who are you saying

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Jesus is he's the Son of God he's the Son of David it's both together he is the rightful heir of the throne of his father

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David and his appearance means that God has come to us

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God is now with us to save us from our enemies whom we fear and we dread the devil the demonic horde the forces of darkness the world our own sin the wrath of God that we so rightly have earned but do not fear do not be afraid

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God is saying I have given you a sign even better than the stupid thing that Pastor Rosebrow came up about the comet the

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Virgin has conceived and she's born a son he is

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God with us and his name is Yeshua for he will save us from our sins and indeed he has so what does

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Joseph do no words he doesn't speak the Magnificat part two he responds in faith so when

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Joseph woke from sleep he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and he took his wife but he knew or not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name

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Yeshua oh so dare this last

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Sunday of Advent to look at this sign that the Virgin has conceived and dare to believe that you do not need to shake like a tree in the wind in fear of your enemy or in fear of the wrath of God although your sins be as scarlet

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Christ by his death on the cross has washed away all of your sins and made you white as snow so trust and believe and rejoice

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Emmanuel has come to you Oh Israel in the name of Jesus 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 15950 470th

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Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744 and again that address is

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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th