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In the name of Jesus, amen.

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Dear brothers and
sisters in Christ,

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the righteous king
Hezekiah got sick.

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God sent the prophet to tell
him that he's going to die.

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Hezekiah wept and he
prayed and God listened.

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So he sent the prophet
back to promise him

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15 more years of life
and a sign to measure

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the promise by.

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So today Hezekiah sings
an unnumbered psalm.

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And like all of the
rest of them, they're

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almost easier
without the context.

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Not just because the
context today leaves

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us to wrestle with
the tricky Bible study

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question of whether
or not God changes his

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mind, but because when
it's real people praying

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in real need, the
Bible study questions

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demand more
than just being right.

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Because I sat with
Susie in a cancer clinic

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while the doctor
explained stage three brain

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cancer.

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And I sat with Bill
in a COVID unit while

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the doctor told his
family that ventilator

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or not, his brain was dead.

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And I sat with Kurt
while the doctor explained

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that he is never
going to walk again.

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And I honestly can't
even remember how many

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of the rest without
looking at a folder full

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of funeral bulletins.

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Christ forgive me.

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But God takes them all.

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Some were given a few
more years and some were not.

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But every single one
of them looked at me

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with the exact same
eyes that asked the same

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question.

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How do I get God to fix this?

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And I, a poor
miserable stinner,

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kind of want to make him too.

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So what shall I say?

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He has spoken to me.

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He himself has done it.

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Doctors act as modern
day prophets offering

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diagnoses as prophecy,
but they call no one

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to repentance with
the promise of life.

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And the devil stretches
out the time after bad news.

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Makes it feel like forever.

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He makes it feel quiet.

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And he whispers
that a Lord of the living

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must not have a lot
to do with the dying.

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And if he would, it better
be our job to make Him.

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So does God change His mind?

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And the desperation
that we have for things

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to be better assumes
something every bit as

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dark as whether or
not God would change

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his mind about
forgiving our sins.

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See this thing that you
need to change, that

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you need God to change,
that you need to make

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God change somehow
is always assumed to be

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a sign of His displeasure
or His absence.

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Which means if you
need to change God's mind

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about something, it
means that you're alone

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right now.

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And so hope is a
very far away thing.

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Thanks be to God that
he would give us the

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permission to feel it
today, even say it today.

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He gives us today the
words for when you can't

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really think of what
to say next, but you

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need to pray an unnumbered
psalm with Hezekiah

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and Susie and Bill
and Kurt and all of the

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rest of the desperate
and the dying.

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You can quote this text.

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Like a swallow or
crane I chirp, I moan like

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a dove, my eyes are
weary with looking upward.

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Oh Lord, I am oppressed.

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Be my pledge of safety.

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What shall I say?

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For He has spoken to me
and He himself has done it.

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I walk slowly all
my years because

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of the bitterness of my soul.

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Oh Lord, by these
things men live and

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in all these is the
life of my spirit.

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Oh restore me to
health and make me live.

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Hezekiah had to wait
for a second word from

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the prophet promising
to add years to his

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life to sing this unnumbered
psalm, but you don't.

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You already have the
promise of life and a

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sign to accompany it
that helps us confront

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that quiet in between
where the devil works

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and the doctors can't
anymore and the Bible

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study questions
need hope every

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single bit as much
as they need truth.

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Does God change his mind?

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And you know, how did
Hezekiah convince him

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to do it and how do
we do it too and maybe

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even bottle it because
the prayer lists are

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all together too full of
the people who need

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it and God doesn't
change his mind.

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He has one will and
that will plays itself

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out in time and space
so you can see it, so

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you can witness it and even
find hope in the midst of it.

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God's will does not change.

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God's will always was,
always is, always will

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be to save and His
will is exercised in time

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and space so since
God willed sinners to live

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in time and space, God
became man to die and

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rise for you.

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A promise and an
accompanying sign.

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In time and space, the
Spirit comes to you in

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water and word to
deliver to you the salvation

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that you need.

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It wasn't that before
the cross God real mad

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and after the cross
He's real chill about

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it all.

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It's that God's will has
always been to save.

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It is always that
Christ is the redeemer.

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The lamb slain before
the foundation of the

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world would bear the
cross for you to see,

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for you to cling to in your
desperate hour of need.

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And since God's will
is unchanging, He saw

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Hezekiah through the
very same cross that

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He sees you and
everyone you pray for.

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There is not just truth
in this, there is hope.

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Understand what it
means for that real quiet

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in between for you and
your unnumbered Psalm.

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He wills your sins
forgiven and so in

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time and space He
bleeds and dies for you.

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Your sins are forgiven.

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Cast behind His back.

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He wills your dying to
live, delivered from the pit.

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And so He conquered
sin and death

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itself and burst
from the tomb.

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Your prayers don't need
to change God's mind now.

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His mind is made up.

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That's fine.

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As sure as Christ is risen
from the grave, you are saved.

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You are died for, baptized,
forgiven, and even now accrue.

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Joy unto the resurrection.

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Even if you don't
see it yet and all you

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have are tears and
broken bones, wait.

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Because in time
and space God's

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will is always played out.

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Wait because what has
been promised will come.

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Because it stands on
Christ and not on you.

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It is not your burden to
make God be a better God.

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Thanks be to God.

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And when hope runs
thin, He invites you to pray.

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Join your prayers to
a victory, to a promise

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that is based on God's
character and God's

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actions.

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Join your will to His.

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And His will has already
worked to save you.

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So prayer can be a
comfort instead of a burden.

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Prayer can be
more than just a

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chance to bribe
God or badger Him.

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They are simply the
words that He would give

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you to echo back,
to cling to, so that the

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quiet that the devil
imposes would be answered

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with psalms of joy and
worry would be changed

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back to hope again.

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Because Sheʾōl
does not thank you.

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Death does not praise you.

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Those in the pit do not hope.

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And so Hezekiah doesn't need
to bribe God with praises.

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And you don't need to
pray your way out of the pit.

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But rather God
wills that you live.

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He has enacted it.

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Christ is risen.

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He is risen indeed.

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Hallelujah.

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Sheol doesn't get
the last word anymore.

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And so the God who
reveals Himself in the

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land of the living has
died and conquered

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death.

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Christ is risen
and so will you.

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There will be
thanksgiving among

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those who are
delivered from death.

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It's just what is now.

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Whatever you face,
whichever of the faithful

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that you pray for,
know that Sheol can't

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pull us down to be
cut off from the land

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of the living, from
God or from each other.

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Death does not praise you, but
you can't stay dead anymore.

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So there will be praise.

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Just take a breath.

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And then with the
next one, dare to praise

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God, even in the
quiet parts after the bad

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news.

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Not for the bad
news, but for the

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victory that you
already have over it.

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For the second word
of the prophet that

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you have already
heard, it is finished.

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Hope in the face of the grave.

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Christ is risen.

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You will rise.

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So will Hezekiah
and Susie and Bill

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and all the rest
of the faithful.

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For the Lord will save
me and we will play

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music on stringed
instruments all the days

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of our lives at the
house of the Lord.

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In the name of Jesus.

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Amen.