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Grace
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Mercy and peace be unto you
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from God, our Father,
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the Lord and Savior,
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Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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The parable of the weeds of the
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field is set before you today,
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and I want to explore with you
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a rather simple observation.
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I've learned through my own
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experiences with gardening and
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by talking with gardeners and
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farmers and permaculture
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enthusiasts and homesteaders,
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that despite the vast
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differences in raising crops
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and building soil,
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there is a universally accepted
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principle in gardening
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you don't want weeds
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in your garden.
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When you see a weed,
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you pull it out.
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Some are okay with synthetic
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fertilizers, some are not.
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Some are okay with bugs in their
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garden, some are not.
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Some are okay with drip hoses
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and irrigation methods,
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some are not.
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But no one is okay with weeds.
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Yet when Jesus tells the parable
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of the weeds of the field,
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we see that when the servants
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ask to pull the weeds out,
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he says no.
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So here's the simple observation
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that I would like to explore
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with you today.
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Jesus,
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things aren't as they should be.
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Here we see a garden
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filled with weeds,
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and it cries out to be weeded.
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Yet he says
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no,
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things aren't as they should be.
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Yet Jesus,
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the son of Adama of the soil,
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prevents us from speculating
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any further here.
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We're not to overthink, hyper,
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criticize, ponder why,
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or even to act,
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but to simply observe
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and to trust.
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Things aren't as they should be.
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Yet Jesus will put
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all things right.
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In his timing,
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and by Him working all things
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together for the good of
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those who love Him,
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he will put all things right.
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Therefore he says to us, no,
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lest in gathering the weeds,
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they may root up the wheat
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along with them.
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Therefore,
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let both grow together until the
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harvest. Simply observe them,
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and at harvest time I will
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tell the reapers,
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and we will observe them, too.
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Gather the weeds first,
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and bind them in bundles
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to be burned,
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but gather the wheat into
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My barn.
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A parishioner called asking me
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to come visit her father,
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Robert.
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Robert was 72 years old,
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and he was just placed on
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hospice with an aggressive
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form of stomach cancer.
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Just a few months earlier,
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Robert moved into this small red
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house just ten yards away from
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his daughter's white farm house.
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Both homes sat side by side on
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the top of a hill overlooking
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450 acres of pure farmland,
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stretching to the north and
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south, east and west,
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gleaming with thick, dark grass,
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some scattered oak trees,
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and the greatest Hereford cattle
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that you've ever seen.
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By the time I made it
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out to see Robert,
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his health had deteriorated so
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rapidly that the family had
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moved him into a hospice bed,
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into their living room,
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into the white farmhouse.
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The doctors told him that he had
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a couple of weeks to
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a couple of months.
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It was during that first meeting
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with Robert, the first of many,
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that he shared with me
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regrets in his life.
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His marriage had crumbled
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apart decades earlier,
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and though the divorce was
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finalized years and years ago,
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the wounds still festered.
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He shared with me that he
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was a Roman Catholic,
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but he hadn't been to
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Mass in decades,
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and when I asked him if I could
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contact a priest for him,
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Robert flat out rejected
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the offer.
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Though he grew up in the
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Catholic Church,
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he wanted nothing to do with a
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priest as he approached death.
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And though he was married,
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he was now heading towards death
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without the one he promised,
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till death do his part.
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Things
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were not as they should be.
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So it is with those
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Jesus encounters.
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A man with a withered hand.
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A man who is unable to speak.
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A man who is unable to hear.
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A paralytic lying on a mat a
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young daughter who lies dead.
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A woman caught in a shameful
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past. A grieving mother,
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a traitor and a denier
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of a disciple.
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Religious leaders seeking
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to kill him.
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So many things that are not
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how they should be.
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St. John observes it plainly
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he came to his own,
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and his own people did
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not receive him.
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So they placed the Son
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of God on trial.
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The people he came to save from
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death cry out for his death.
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He's handed over to be
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crucified. Though he's innocent.
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And the light in the life of men
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is exchanged for Barabbas,
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a well known murderer.
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And they place a purple cloak
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and a twisted crown of thorns
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upon the body of the
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King of Kings.
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As the people mock him with the
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breath that he gave them.
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There is no worse picture of
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things not being as they should
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be than that old rugged cross
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where Christ was crucified.
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The perfect Lamb of God,
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slain for the sins he
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did not commit.
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Yet we esteemed him stricken,
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smitten by God and afflicted.
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Surely his dear mother was
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pierced by the sight of it.
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The disciple whom he
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loved beheld it,
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and the centurion that crucified
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him felt it,
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and every one of us
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sinners knows it.
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This is not how things
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should be.
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All we, like sheep,
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are the ones who have
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gone astray.
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And yet we observe the Lord laid
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on him the iniquity of us all.
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The judge of the earth
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is judged.
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The breath of life
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breathes his last
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and he leaves his disciples
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waiting,
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observing things that aren't
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as they should be.
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Doubting
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if Jesus will put all things
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right or if he won't.
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The devil is alive and well.
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Never ceases to sow the seeds
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that aim to choke out the seeds
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which God has planted, namely,
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faith
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in Jesus.
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The only one who is capable of
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putting all things right.
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Who will put all things right.
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The devil struck his heel,
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but Jesus crushed the serpent's
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head. And the death He died
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He died for sins, once for all.
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But the life he lives,
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he lives to God,
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and he lives to put
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all things right.
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He who healed the withered hand,
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who made the mute man speak,
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who gave a deaf man
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ears to hear,
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and who made a paralyzed man
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pick up his mat and walk
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home with only a word,
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also is the one who said little
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girl, I say to you,
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arise he who raises the
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dead back to life.
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Forgives the worst of sinners,
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the murdering Saul,
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the adulterous woman,
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the denying Peter.
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He is the restoring forgiving
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reconciling man to God,
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making peace by the blood
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of his cross,
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and he will continue His work
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until it is complete.
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For He who began a good work in
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you will bring it to completion
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at the day of Jesus Christ.
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Remember the words from Ezekiel
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I will feed them with
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good pasture,
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and on the mountain heights of
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Israel shall be their
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grazing land.
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There they shall lie down
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in good grazing land,
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and on rich pasture they shall
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feed on the mountains of Israel.
00:09:33.850 --> 00:09:35.746
I myself will be the shepherd
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of my sheep,
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and I myself will make them lie
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down, declares the Lord.
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I will seek the lost.
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I will bring back the strayed.
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I will bind up the injured.
00:09:47.158 --> 00:09:49.594
I will strengthen the weak and
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the fat and the strong
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I will destroy
00:09:51.722 --> 00:09:53.790
I will feed them injustice.
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As a servant of Christ
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you may not get to do the work
00:10:02.290 --> 00:10:04.818
that you think you are the one
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to do it or should be doing the
00:10:08.248 --> 00:10:11.106
weeding or the ordering of all
00:10:11.128 --> 00:10:12.126
the things that seem
00:10:12.158 --> 00:10:12.770
out of order,
00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:14.210
that are crying out
00:10:14.280 --> 00:10:15.720
to be set right.
00:10:17.290 --> 00:10:19.446
But you do get a rather up close
00:10:19.548 --> 00:10:24.646
view to observe God working in
00:10:24.668 --> 00:10:25.894
this world through His
00:10:25.932 --> 00:10:27.982
Word and His Spirit,
00:10:28.146 --> 00:10:29.900
setting all things right.
00:10:31.390 --> 00:10:33.114
Robert was one of many such
00:10:33.152 --> 00:10:34.700
occurrences for me.
00:10:35.950 --> 00:10:37.580
Filled by the word of God,
00:10:38.270 --> 00:10:40.334
Robert decided in the last few
00:10:40.372 --> 00:10:42.270
days of his life on Earth
00:10:42.770 --> 00:10:44.720
that after 25 years,
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he was going to reconnect with
00:10:47.892 --> 00:10:50.526
his ex wife and ask for
00:10:50.548 --> 00:10:51.710
her forgiveness.
00:10:53.830 --> 00:10:56.594
All I could do was watch and
00:10:56.632 --> 00:10:59.922
observe and smile when she
00:10:59.976 --> 00:11:01.458
traveled across the entire
00:11:01.544 --> 00:11:03.762
country to that little white
00:11:03.816 --> 00:11:05.334
farmhouse on the top of that
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hill, to hold Robert's hands,
00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:10.680
to forgive him,
00:11:11.530 --> 00:11:14.402
to reconcile with him and remain
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close by his side until
00:11:17.020 --> 00:11:18.360
death did them part.
00:11:20.090 --> 00:11:21.880
Something that wasn't right,
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God put right.
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And why would we be surprised?
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He knows the number of hairs on
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your head. And one day soon,
00:11:33.250 --> 00:11:35.562
all the things that aren't
00:11:35.626 --> 00:11:37.040
as they should be,
00:11:37.730 --> 00:11:40.480
Jesus will put them right.
00:11:41.090 --> 00:11:42.030
Amen.
00:11:43.010 --> 00:11:44.254
Now may the peace of God,
00:11:44.292 --> 00:11:45.374
which surpasses all
00:11:45.412 --> 00:11:46.042
understanding,
00:11:46.106 --> 00:11:47.626
guard your hearts and your minds
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in Christ Jesus our Lord.
00:11:50.130 --> 00:11:50.650
Amen.