Published: July 7, 2024 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: Gospel of Mark - Part 108 | Scripture: Mark 15:37-39
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we're in Mark 15 this 15 this morning looking at particularly one verse verse 38 but I'm going to read from verse 33 down through
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39 to again set the context Mark 15 ver 33 and when the sixth hour had come Darkness fell over
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the whole land until the 9th hour and at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice eloi eloi Lama sabakon which
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is translated my God my God why hast Thou forsaken me and when some of the bystanders heard it they began saying behold he is calling for Elijah and
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someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine put it on a reed and gave him a drink saying let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down and Jesus
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uttered a loud cry and breathed his last and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and when the Centurion who was standing right in
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front of Jes of him saw the way he breathed his last he said truly this man was the son of God let us
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let us pray our father again we do ask that by your Holy Spirit you would teach us you would guide us into all the truth that you would help us as we read as we
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meditate on the scriptures and as we look at the life and the death of Christ that we would truly begin to realize the
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true power of the Cross we ask that you would use these things in our lives use these things to build your church in Christ's name we pray
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amen if you had been among the Jews on Jews on this time in Jerusalem going to the Passover celebration and touring the streets of
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Jerusalem amidst the the crowds and and those hurrying to the
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temple and if you had said to one of the Jews hey let's draw near to the throne of God today they probably their jaw would have hit the pavement their hair would have stood on end and they would
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have pointed a finger at you and said blasphemer no one approaches God but those for whom it is appointed
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God's barrier is up we don't approach him we bring offerings we bring our sacrifices but it's the priests and even some of the
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priests can go a little way and only one priest and one day of year can approach
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God the curtain or the veil of the Temple had a theological significance the je the Jews knew it I
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think sometimes we forget it the Jews could approach the court the courtyard the outer Court of the temple where the
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altar of burnt offerings were burnt and then the bronze labor was there but then there was a veil into the
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building and that Veil hid what was called The Holy place and inside the holy place was the table of showbread and that thing that we call the manora
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the seven candles on the candle sticks and the altar of incense and in there only Levites could
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Levites could Minister the offerings but the Levites had to be descended from Aaron Moses brother and only they could enter the holy place the common Jew could not
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approach and the priests daily offered offerings and we have heard about some of those offerings in Chuck's teaching in Leviticus the burnt
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offerings the sin offerings the peace offerings the guilt offerings daily they offered these things before the Lord in
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the Holy place but there was another Veil another Veil that hung between the holy place and what was called the holy
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of holies the original veil of the Tabernacle had embroidered cherubim it was made of uh we're told in the penet
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took blue and Scarlet and purple wool and fine woven linen and cherubim were finally
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embroidered into
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tapestry cherubim were seen by the Jews as the guardians or protectors that had Supernatural Mobility they were depicted as guarding sacred spaces or sacred objects they
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were depicted as guarding the way to the Tree of Life In the Garden of Eden and this tapestry was held up by four acacia wood
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posts and it was very large the commentaries and the historians seemed to not agree on its
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Dimensions but the key thing here was that the high priest could enter the holy of holies but once a year and that occurred on yum kipur the
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day of day of atonement but he had to follow the rituals he couldn't just go in again not any day he chose and he couldn't go in
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unless he was fully prepared he had to go through the ritual washing he had to wear the appropriate
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clothing and the holy of holies had no windows so it was full of if I could say it this way full of darkness and the high priest would take
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some coals from the incense burner and he would put incense on it to create a smoke I can only imagine that he created this smoke and so that he wouldn't
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accidentally see accidentally see the Ark of the Covenant that was in there and the mercy seat and the engraved cherubim with the wings covering the ark that guarded the way to
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a holy a holy God and this darkness and this smoke would hide the face of God from him but I imagine again from what he had
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to do that he had to make at least two trips taking in the smoke but he also had to take in blood blood of the
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sacrifices and he had to sprinkle the blood on the Ark of the Covenant for his own sins but also for the sins of the
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people now herod's temple in Jesus day was not the Tabernacle not Solomon's Temple but it had the holy place and it had the holy of holies and it had the
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veil and there are those who said that Herod in building this Grand Temple made it even 20 ft higher than the original Tabernacle some estimate that the veil
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was 60 feet tall 20 ft wide and according to Jewish tradition it was as thick as a man's the palm of a man's
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hand the ancient historian and Josephus tells us that the tapestry that appeared in herod's Temple was a kind of image of
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the universe that it had 72 panels on it and yes it was woven with scarlet and purples and the blue wool but it
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depicted the universe with the Scarlet being fire and flax being the color of the earth and the blue for the air and the purple for the sea
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and the embroidery work depicting the living creatures of various
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kinds but it's the veil's function that I think is of importance here the veil's function restricted the Israelites worship but the Restriction was based on
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the Holiness of God the veil was not a Gateway it was not a door it was a
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barrier we have mentioned Isaiah 59 before but it is a truth your sins Isaiah says have made a separation between you and your god he has turned away and he does not hear the unclean
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must be separated from that which is clean the Unholy holy must be separate from he who is Holiness so the worshippers in the old
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Covenant were restricted in their access to God in the temple the common Jew could not come any further than the
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outer court and again only special people and one special high priest once a year must come in and he must be fully washed and
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he must be carried caring the sacrificial blood the Jew could not just approach God anytime he pleased in
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prayer but they must bring the sacrifices and again at appointed times and in appointed ways they could not approach God any time they
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time they chose yet I do not by this mean that the temple or the Tabernacle as given to Moses the design of it prepared on the
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mountain God said make it exactly to the pattern that you have seen and is not to mean that it was not a beautiful thing and it is not to mean that it was not a
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necessary thing it is theologically necessary to separate again the Unholy from he who is Holy and the Tabernacle was ordered by
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God it was ordered by God according to the pattern that he gave to Moses and exodus tells us that it was this this beautiful linen work and the
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wool and the the colors were especially given and assigned to skillful Craftsmen the Tabernacle and what it the
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veil symbolized for them was was deeply part of the Jewish not only tradition but of their thought of who
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God was and yet because of sin the separation remained the veil at the time that Jesus
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walked in walked in Jerusalem was a barrier and not a
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door but our scriptures tell us that when Jesus uttered on the cross the loud cry and breathed his last the Veil of the temple was
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torn there was an earthquake that the other gospel writers tell us about but the veil was not torn because of the earthquake the veil was not torn because
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the the Masons had done a poor job in herod's Temple and the support beams had failed it did not
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break it did not wear out but it the scripture tells us and the veil of the temple was
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torn if this veil of the thickness that many describe perhaps as much as 4 in thick 60 feet tall and 20 ft wide was torn it was not torn by human hands it was said that took 300 men just
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to lift this
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God and now as one of the writers has said the lips of Jesus on the cross may be silent but God now speaks in a very eloquent
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language the veil was torn in the extent of the tearing it was torn from the top to the bottom it was completely torn
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into it was irreparable damage yes Jewish tradition says that the priests got together and hired skillful workers to mend this thing and
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sew it all back together and put it up but it could not any longer function as a physical barrier to the throne of God and the
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cherubim the cherubim on that tapestry of the Tabernacle were no longer protecting The Mercy Seat their Duty as Guardians as Protectors of sacred places
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was over as Charles Spurgeon wrote henceforth God deal dwells no longer in the thick darkness of the holy of holies but shines
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but shines forth no longer between the between the cherubim he shines forth because there is no longer a barrier
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in Hebrews chapter 10 it describes that what Jesus inaugurated and it uses that word inaugurated was a New and Living
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Way the old way has ended end the end of the priesthood the end of the traditional sacrificial system the
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ministrations of the priests were no longer needed the veil was open
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it was end of symbolism the old Covenant theological purpose was ended it was the end at least envisioning the end of
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sin the writer of Hebrews again in chapter N9 tells us he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of
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himself and it was also again the end of Separation the barrier has become a Gateway the one who came and said of
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himself I am the way the truth and the life has opened a New and Living Way it's a living way because it is open
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again the writer tells us Christ open it through the Veil The the veil of his own flesh he is speaking of the blood that
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was shed by Christ the bloody sacrifice of his own body remove the veil of the temple remove the veil and the true
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Veil on our hearts that was a barrier to the Heavenly
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sanctuary and the writer of Hebrews again tells us that he did this as and it says the the great priest he could have said high priest and we would have understood the people would have
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understood the pr high priest who pierced that darkness by going through the veil who had the blood of the
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sacrifice but he calls him the great priest perhaps referring to him as that priest on the order of melkisedek he was the kingly priest
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and he entered carrying the blood of the sacrifice but it was his own blood not for himself because he was
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sinless he was made to be sin for us who knew no sin but he carried his own blood for the sins of his
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people the veil of the temple was torn into two from top to bottom
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there are many of the more recent writers who believe that this was the outer Veil the outer veil of the Holy place and they take us back to Mark chap 1 and
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say the heavens were opened they were actually when Jesus was baptized the heavens were torn into and perhaps envisioning this V of
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herod's Temple the image of the universe the image of the heavens being torn into and opened I don't know if that's true perhaps it adds something to our vision
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of what happened here but I do know that the veil that barrier that keeps us from knowing god almighty has been
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torn but all of this I believe is is related to our position in Christ as individuals yes but also as a body of body of Believers in Hebrews chapter 10 and I
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don't intend to preach Hebrews chapter 10 but I think we have to relate this to our great high priest he says this New
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and Living Way which he inaugurated for us through the flesh through his flesh and since we have so great a high priest
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over the house of God let us let us let us he repeats three times let us draw near let us hold fast our confession let
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us think about and work on how to stir up one another to love and good works to the Jew the access to God's Throne was
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limited in Jesus Christ it has been reopen it it has been regained and now the writer of Hebrews asks us that access needs to be
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celebrated one of the more modern writers that I referred to by a man by the name of Daniel gerner and I don't know that he got all the rest of it right but I believe he got this right he
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says the veil was a physical visible barrier that access to God was strictly prohibited because of his Holiness it is imperative to remember he
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goes on to say that the Holiness of God remains unchanged to all eternity even after the veil was torn I think
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sometimes we forget that we think God is our buddy we think we can do as we wish there are some on the one hand who well the veil has been torn we're now in Christ and we live as what whatever
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however we want to live there are others who say no I think we need to have the veil put back up the sacrifices reinstated we need to go back to that
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old system but the writer to the Hebrews says God is unchanged but something has changed the blood of Christ accomplished
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what the blood of all of those thousands of bulls and goats could not he says we have been Sanctified through the offering of the body of
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Jesus Christ once for all time Believers have access to the presence of God they have the great high priest over the house of God this priest
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king and he says since therefore Brethren I I think he emphasized brother brothers and sisters since we Brethren those of us in
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Christ since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus let us draw near let us continually draw near let us not neglect that the
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levitical priests Drew near but they drew near to this building they drew near to a symbol they drew near to a
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shadow of what was to come but we now have full Assurance to draw near to the throne of God but he says let us draw near with a
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pure heart and sincere faith and let us hold fast the confession what is that confession declaring that I am one with Christ
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because he has bought me and paid for my life with his blood and I am in firm hope that I expect to live eternally with
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him because God is faithful and God will finish what he began in my life and let us consider one another let
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us yes consider our own conduct but also how it may affect our Brethren the commentator lensy writes
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remissness causes double damage if we do not consider others we're not only hurting them but we're we're hurting ourselves because it is our requirement
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as being in the body of Christ to love one another to serve one another he says remissness causes double damage but he goes on to say our faithfulness produces
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double fruit we we will receive a blessing because we bless others and this idea this stirring up it it's we need to incite one
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another to love and Good Deeds but it only happens if we are not abandoning assembling together in the body of
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Christ the veil of the temple was torn into two from top to bottom it was the dramatic turning point of the ages and it occurred when Christ breathed his last this this Redemptive history turns
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from the old Covenant to the New Covenant again Hebrews the writer of Hebrews says but Christ came as a high priest of the good things to
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come with the greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation we have a new
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era no daily sacrifices on the Temple Mount no annual atonement blood with the high priest in
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a robe and the darkness no barrier but now a Gateway a gateway to the throne of God because of the blood of our Lord
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Jesus Christ let us pray Our pray Our Father we are grateful
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we are in awe and I do pray that we would remember that just because the veil is torn your Holiness is not
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diminished I pray that we would be again as the writer of Hebrews says understanding that you are a consuming fire and we approach you with
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with all and so we ask father that we we would draw near we would hold fast our confession we would stir up one
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another to love and Good Deeds because of what Christ has done because we owe you but also because you call us to celebrate this unprecedented access we
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ask in Christ's name amen we now gather to celebrate commun