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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

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Amen. I'm old enough that I miss the days of Jaywalking.

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Now, I'm not talking about darting across the street without the

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safety of a crosswalk.

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I'm talking about the days of Jay Leno being the host of The Tonight

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Show and he would regularly go Jaywalking. He'd have these man on the

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street interviews where he would go up to somebody and just ask them

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questions and see what kind of responses he would get. And it was usually

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right around this time of the year that you could

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count on him doing some Jaywalking. As the nation was getting ready

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to commemorate the Fourth of July.

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So he'd go up to somebody on the street and he'd say, you excited for

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the Fourth of July.

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Well, of course

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yeah, I'm gonna celebrate well, why do we celebrate the 4th of July?

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And the answers, were always rather telling. One guy would say,

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Well, I think that's when we won World War 2 or something.

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Next one would say, wasn't there a big battle within the Civil

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War that happened to be waged on that day and so, it would go.

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But then you'd have one individual that they needed to include who

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actually got the answer

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right.

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Well, Fourth of July, it's Independence Day.

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When we commemorate July the 4th, 1776, the signing of the Declaration

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of Independence and we declared that we were free free from the

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control of the British crown.

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Now,

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those days of Jaywalking reveal a lot about maybe what needs to be

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improved when it comes to how well we teach American History and

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American Civics. But actually also it prompts something that is far

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more critical for you and I brothers and sisters in Christ to consider.

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Namely this what is freedom?

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What does it mean that we are free?

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Now that's one thing on the societal standard.

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But think about it for us as Christians.

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What does it mean for us that we are free?

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Now, for some of you, after two weeks of Greek and Hebrew, by fire

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hose, you may think that freedom is a three-day weekend coming up so

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that you don't have to spend as much time going over

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paradigms, and such. Allow me in Christian love to tell you, stay on

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those paradigms.

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Don't let up, enjoy

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Fair St.

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Louis over the weekend, but stay on top of your paradigms.

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After all freedom is not about

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not having to deal with paradigms in Greek and Hebrew.

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Today

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we hear what true freedom is as Paul teaches us in his letter to the

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Galatians.

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Paul spent, the first four chapters of this letter laying out what

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true freedom is. He says, freedom is not your

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freedom is bound up in what Christ has done for you. That freedom means

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that you are not bound to fulfill all the obligations of the Old

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Testament law in order to be under God's good favor.

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That's no longer binding upon you.

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Now, Paul even uses circumcision as shorthand for this.

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He talks about circumcision as being, an example of what that Old

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Testament, law was binding upon

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those who had come before Christ.

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And he says that, if you now accept circumcision as a means by which

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you gain God's favor, or you stay under his good favor, he says Christ

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means nothing to you.

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Now that leaves another question.

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If our fulfillment of the Old Testament law is not what gives us God's

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favor, nor keeps us in His good favor.

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Then what actually gets the job done? how can you be certain that God

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looks upon you with favor?

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The answer is given in Galatians chapter 3.

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That is where Paul says you've been baptized into Christ and therefore

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you have been clothed with Christ

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and that means that you are free.

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In fact, Paul says because you're baptized into Christ, you are no

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longer a slave, lacking freedom, but rather you are a son of the

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Father. A son who calls out to him

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Abba Father. A son who knows true freedom.

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That is what Christ has earned for you because he has completely

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fulfilled the law on your behalf.

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And that's what he's delivered to you in

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Holy Baptism.

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You are free.

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But again, what does that actually mean?

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What does it mean to live as free people?

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Paul says for freedom Christ has set us free stand firm therefore and

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do not subject you again to a yoke of slavery.

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If we were to choose a different set of laws, any set of laws and say

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that this is the way by which we stay in

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God's good favor

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that would be to reject what Christ has done for us.

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But to be honest I don't think that's the true pressing temptation for

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us as Christians today. Far more tempting for us is to pervert our

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freedom into a license to do, whatever it is

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we feel like doing. After all my standing before, God is not dependent

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upon what I do.

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It's not dependent

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 upon my fulfillment of the law.

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It's completely

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dependent upon Christ, doing it for me, so therefore I can do

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whatever I want, right?

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Wrong, that's just another form of slavery.

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Paul would call it slavery to the flesh.

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That that's not Paul saying that your physical body is the real

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culprit but for Paul flesh is shorthand for the sinful nature. And

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that is what has ever

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so enticing for us

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all.

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I'm not bound by the law to stay in God's graces.

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So, I'm quick to accept slavery to my own sinful desire.

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There's this battle that rages within each and every Christian. It's

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the battle between the new man

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the baptized individual created in me through, holy baptism, and my

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sinful nature warring against each other.

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This is the stuff that Paul

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talks about in Romans chapter 7. The good that I want to do

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I don't do because of that sinful nature and the evil, I don't want to

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do.

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I keep on doing, there's the battle that takes place within each one

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of us. In today's epistle reading from Galatians 5

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he puts it in slightly different words. He talks about the works of

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the flesh, and he also talks about the new creation in us through

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baptism. Where it brings forth the

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fruit of the Spirit.

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Now, those are 

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works of the flesh versus fruit of the Spirit.

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The works of the flesh, are what comes from within me.

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It is what my sinful nature works through me.

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On the other hand, the fruit of the Spirit comes from outside me.

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It's what the Holy Spirit produces in me as He is at work in my life.

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The, The Works of the flesh were quite evident among the Galatians.

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Paul says, if you bite and devour one another look out, lest you be

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consumed by one another.

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Now, might those words still be applicable today to the church? Might

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these words be meant for us as well?

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Most certainly. When we are enslaved to our desires, we view one

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another as competition as those who are just getting in the way of me,

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getting what I desire.

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So, who are you ready to sacrifice

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because they are in the way of you attaining, what you want?

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That is not the fruit of the Spirit.

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The Spirit instead is calling us to repentance for how this is

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manifest in the church.

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It happens in congregations as members will be in a tug-of-war for

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who's going to have control over decisions.

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It happens between congregations as they compete for prominence and

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members. It happens within a synod and it even happens in a seminary

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community.

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The church is called to bear the fruit of the Spirit, not the works of

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the flesh.

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Now, as much as this is a churchly matter

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it's also something for us to consider as we live with those among us

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around us who are not of the faith.

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After all Paul says all the law is fulfilled in one word, love your

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neighbor as yourself.

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He doesn't say just love your fellow believer.

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Love your neighbor, all people.

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We rightly rejoice in last Friday's Supreme Court decision that

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overturned Roe v Wade.

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It is a good thing when society recognizes that the most vulnerable

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among us ought not have their lives expended. But of course, the end

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goal is not the changing of laws.

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The end goal is a change of hearts.

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And that change will only result when the church lives out our call to

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love our neighbor as ourselves.

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That means we love the mother who's in a crisis pregnancy, who is

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without support from family or from the father of the child.

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We are called to deliver the support she needs.

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Loving our neighbor means that we care for the disadvantaged child and

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her

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mother after birth as well.

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Now I give thanks to Christ that this happens to be the heritage of

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the Christian church.

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All the way back in the early church

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they were known for those who as those who loved one another and

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refused to take the life of their own children through the Roman

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practice of exposure.

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In fact, the Christian heritage, the Christian history is one of

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always reaching out and caring for those who are most vulnerable and

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most in need.

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There's plenty of Christian agencies, some of our LCMS agencies that

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still do that very thing today. And that my friends is what Freedom

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looks like.

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The Christian Life is summed up in one word.

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Love, love your neighbor, as yourself. Seek the good of

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others. Don't indulge your own desires but serve one another in love.

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That is hard.

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It's demanding.

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It's natural for us to enslave ourselves to our desires because of our

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sinful nature.

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But that is not who Christ has made you to be in, holy Baptism.

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Instead, he has made you to have a beautiful life of self sacrifice

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for the good of others.

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Christ has loved you perfectly and he still does.

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That is why you can live such a beautiful life and he actually feeds

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you so that you can live out such a life.

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We pray for it every Sunday in the post communion collect.

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We give thanks to you almighty God, that you have refreshed us through

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this, salutary gift of Christ's body and blood.

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And we implore you, that of your mercy, that you would strengthen us

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through that gift of his body, and blood, in faith toward you and

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fervent love toward one another.

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That is the Christian Life.

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That is love, that is freedom.

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Faith toward God, love toward the neighbor that life is yours because

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Christ has set you free. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and

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of the Holy Spirit.

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Amen.