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In the historical exegesis
of our Romans text,

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it has been said that
it is incredible what

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has been done with this verse.

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It's been misunderstood
and misapplied by

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even the most well-known
of the early church

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fathers.

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In the centuries since
Paul's writing, the

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millennialists and
the predestinationists

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have had a field day
with this prophecy.

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Augustine is said to
have sent theologians

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off on tangents as
regards our text until

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the Reformers returned us
to a more biblical view of it.

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But time restrains us,
so listen to a good short

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summary, which was
made by B.M. Christensen

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and quoted by Lentsky.

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What Paul is saying
here is that to the Gentiles

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in Rome, it appears
as if God has totally

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rejected His chosen
people, the Jews.

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They've been conquered
by Babylon, then Rome,

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and then finally
exiled totally in 70 A.D.

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from the Promised Land.

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Therefore, the Jews'
suffering has caught the

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eye of the Roman
Gentile Christian church.

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It is a topic of
much discussion

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and much concern
and confusion.

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Perhaps the Gentiles
are wondering how God

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can abandon His
chosen people, and they're

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openly asking Paul
to explain this because

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they are secretly
wondering if this is a God

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to be trusted, a God
who's got their backs.

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So what's the Old
Testament context?

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Well here Paul goes
on to point out that the

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promises of God were
always to the spiritual

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Israel, true believers,
and His treatment of

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them is in exact harmony
with the prophecies

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of old and God's
historical prophecies about

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the Messiah and His
desired outcomes for the

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true spiritual Israel.

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Paul explains that this
present day suffering

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of the Jews is a
continuation of the historical

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pattern in the Old
Testament of how God dealt

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with them and that
God is not acting here

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in a new way.

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He's clearly
disciplining them.

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We could say he's
retraining them and in the

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process hopes to keep
them on or bring them

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back to center.

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In the army we
call this retraining,

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sustainment training,
kind of a euphemism.

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Our text has Paul
explaining this historical

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methodology of God's
through Paul to the Gentiles

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as God's historical
ways of treating the Jews,

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which they question,
but which actually works

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and actually shows us
God's omniscience, His

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greater understanding,
His greater mercy,

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His greater grace and love.

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And so God repeatedly
dealt in history with

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His people's hardened
hearts and succeeded

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then in saving a remnant.

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Without His dealings, as such,
none would have been saved.

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He's most importantly
reinforcing their faith,

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but also life of
sanctification so that they

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may attain to the reward, the

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crown of
righteousness and faith.

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Without God's
chastisement and convicting

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His children of their
sins, they would not

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have returned to the
cycle of conviction,

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contrition, sorrow,
repentance and faith.

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God's goal was for the
elect to win the earthly

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spiritual war with
evil, finish the race and

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keep the faith and
attain to that which is

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laid up for us by our
Heavenly Father, by

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our Lord in heaven.

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So why is this retraining
or sustainment training

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or whatever you wish
to call it necessary?

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Here Paul is trying to
set the Gentiles' fears

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at rest that this God
and faith, they have

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abandoned their
pagan religion to

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follow, is a God and
faith to be trusted.

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And if we may speculate,
perhaps God is using

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Paul's words to prepare
them for the day when

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they too will begin
to fall away and when,

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as with the Jews, God
will have to put them

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also through challenging
sustainment retraining.

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Spiritual sustainment
training is necessary

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for us because of
the sickness of original

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sin, the old Adam in us.

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Therefore this Romans
text speaks to us today

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as individuals, as a
church, as a country.

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Sustainment training
is reinforcement

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training, is
corrective in nature.

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So what's in this for us?

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Do we see this
type of activity

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by God in our lives also?

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Are we drifting away
or is some pet sin

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we thought we had
conquered coming back?

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Maybe life is too busy
and we're shortchanging

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our time in worship,
in devotions.

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It could be almost anything.

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Maybe we worry about
where our family members

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are headed and
especially these days where

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our country is headed
with all of its perversions.

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Our grandiose hopes for
our country are dashed.

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We wonder if we are
leaving behind what we

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are leaving behind to
those who follow and

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especially to our children.

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Worse yet, what is to come?

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But fear not.

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To the Gentiles then
and now, Paul is speaking.

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In fact, the fact that
2,000 years have elapsed

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and the gospel has
spread and is a pretty

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good track record in
itself that God has outlived

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the Gentiles' fears back
then and proven them

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unfounded, fears
which were expected

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from our flesh but
managed by God.

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You know, to calm
our soldiers' jitters, we

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used to tell them
before they deployed or

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went outside the
wire, once they were in

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the combat zone,
remember your training.

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And we trained hard to
ensure that their responses

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were instinctual,
automatic, as much as they

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could be.

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Paul is telling the
Gentiles of all ages here

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to remember your training
and that I am training

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you so hard
because I love you.

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God is calling the
Gentiles of all ages to

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also remember our
training in the word of

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God, in the gospel.

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But what happens if I panic
and I fail in my training?

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What happens if
I fail my trainer?

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Simply remember how
in the word we learned

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of a lone Savior who
came to live among us

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and to fight the war
or the battle for us.

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And here is where our text

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actually gets
easy and is clear.

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Although some aspects
of this text are debated

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in their understanding
and meaning, the gospel

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truly shines
through in this text.

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Our convoy was sitting
alongside the road

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just south of Baghdad
waiting for the escorts

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to come and lead
us up to our final

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destination just
outside Ramadi.

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The rule was to not
wait any longer than

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10 minutes and you
had to start moving.

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But 45 minutes had elapsed.

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Somebody hadn't
followed the rule.

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That was a good
reason for this rule.

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Finally, the convoy
commander wised up and

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instructed our convoy
leader to get moving,

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no more waiting.

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As the movement began,
in came the mortars,

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one after another,
with a few close calls.

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Close because
we had waited for

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someone else, not
among us, to save us.

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The escort team headed
our way, never showed up.

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But the leader we
needed was one among us

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and he heeded his
commander's call, showed

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the initiative, took charge,
and saved our bacon that day.

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We stayed in our
formation and followed him

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up out of the kill zone
and by the grace of

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God we had no losses.

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This is kind of what
Paul is telling the Romans

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when he quotes a
just position of parts of

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Isaiah 27:9 and 50:20
through 21 in our text.

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And so in our text,
Paul reminds his readers

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that the promised
deliverer from Zion has

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already come.

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The escort has already come.

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He, their spiritual
convoy commander and

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leader, has lived among
them, was one of them.

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He, Jesus, our Messiah,
took on human flesh,

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lived the righteous
life we could not live,

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and then took the
initiative and became our

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ultimate leader, our
commander, our Lord,

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our Savior, to lead us through
this life and on to eternity.

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And on Good Friday,
he led from the front and

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he led through death
itself to the resurrection

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on Easter Sunday and
then to heaven 40 days later.

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He banished ungodliness
from among the Jews

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and us by atoning for
all of our sins on the

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forgiveness.

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Lest we be wise in
our own eyes, our Lord

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does not want us to
be blind to the mystery

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of this universal
atonement, which means not

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that it is undiscoverable,
but that it is

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hard to understand
such an incredible love

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of the Father that He
sent and consigned His

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Son to do this for sinners.

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And God works today,
2,000 years later, through

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word and sacrament,
to draw us to Himself.

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He calls us through
the gospel to faith,

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faith in Jesus and
His saving work.

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He calls us into a
life of service and in

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your case as seminary
students, a life of

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preaching and or
teaching the word.

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Lutheran Heritage
Foundation is there to assist

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you, to assist world
missions and Lutheran

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churches around
the world to teach

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and preach the
word with our books.

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These books of
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based on scripture
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These are the writings
of our past church

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leaders and scholars
passed on to the church

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of the wisdom God has imparted
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With scripture and these
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the saints and soldiers
of the cross for their

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00:11:34,566 --> 00:11:35,066
service.

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00:11:36,466 --> 00:11:40,211
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Foundation helps pastors,

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their people, churches,
schools around the

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world to do this
with classic Lutheran

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books of our
Lutheran heritage.

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We produce books such
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00:11:51,687 --> 00:11:54,200
the Book of Concord,
A Child's Garden, the

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Bible Stories and
many, many more titles.

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00:11:57,933 --> 00:12:00,708
To date we've printed
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00:12:05,066 --> 00:12:06,233
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There's over 7,250
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Plenty of work to do.

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These books are vehicles
to teach the word of

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God and convey the
gospel of Jesus to those

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who have not yet
heard about him.

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And to those who have but
need their faith strengthened.

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Will you and your
future churches

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help us as we help
you in this task?

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Will you open your
doors to a speaker?

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Will you pray for and
support this work?

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Better yet if someday
you find your churches

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immersed, and I find
this often as I travel

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around the country
in growing immigrant

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populations around
some of our churches.

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Will you seek out and
remember the resources

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00:12:49,515 --> 00:12:51,966
we have for you to help
you in such a ministry?

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00:12:52,733 --> 00:12:54,700
In Jesus' name, amen.

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And now may the peace
of God which surpasses

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our human understanding
keep your hearts and

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00:13:00,566 --> 00:13:03,133
minds in the true
faith to life eternal.

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Amen.