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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, from

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God our Father and from our Lord and

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Savior Jesus

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Christ.

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Amen.

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The text for our homily this morning is

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the epistle as it was read,

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These are they who are coming out of the

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great tribulation,

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They have washed their robes and made

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them white in the blood of the Lamb.

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Your friends in Christ Jesus, 26 years

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ago this week, my family and I were

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packing up

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our belongings in Michigan and preparing

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to move here to St. Louis.

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The congregation I had been serving had

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thrown a wonderful farewell on the Sunday

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prior,

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and so on Wednesday morning we awoke

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eager to get on the road, to get the

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belongings

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packed up into the moving van and then

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the next day drive to St. Louis.

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It was about 10 o'clock that morning that

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a pastor from the neighboring

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congregation

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knocked on the door.

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It was Pastor Heckert.

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We figured he had come to say goodbye

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like everybody else, but instead he came

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to bear

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the difficult news that my mother had

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been killed the night before in an

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automobile accident.

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Another homecoming as he put it.

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Since our phones had been packed away,

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this was before cell phones, my dad

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wasn't able

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to reach us, and so the next morning he

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reached somebody in St. Louis and they

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were able to

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get a hold of Pastor Heckert.

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So what was to have been a relaxing

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journey to a new home and a new calling

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here in St.

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Louis became a numb, a mind-numbing drive

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to rural Iowa for a flurry of funeral

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arrangements

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awash in a sea of grief.

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That is part of my story, of the story of

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one of my loved ones, and you have your

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stories

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as well.

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But together, our loved ones and their

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stories are described in this text as a

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great multitude

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that no one can number, from every

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nation, from all tribes and peoples and

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languages.

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That is to say, our loved ones in heaven

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and all the saints of heaven have been

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gathered

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from every square mile of this planet and

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every century of time to be with Jesus.

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They are wearing the white robes of

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righteousness and they are carrying the

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palm fronds of victory

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in their hands.

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And they are crying out with a loud

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voice, salvation belongs to our God who

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sits upon

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the throne and to the Lamb.

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Yes, these are they who are coming out of

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the great tribulation.

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You and I know this tribulation, don't

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we?

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We have experienced it.

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Perhaps, it's a dear loved one who is ill

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and just doesn't ever seem to get better.

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Day after day she must bear her cross,

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one day at a time.

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Perhaps it's an anxiety or an emotional

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struggle that we're experiencing, a

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depression or a

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seeming challenge to cope with life in

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general.

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Or maybe we suffer a deep wound or hurt

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from our past that we have tried to leave

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behind

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but it just keeps coming back to haunt

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us.

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Or maybe it's the wound of death itself,

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a loved one who has left us here alone to

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mourn, a wound that never seems to fully

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heal.

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This is the great tribulation, messed up

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life in a messed up world.

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But this is also what our loved ones in

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heaven have come out of or to translate

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it more accurately,

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are coming out of the great tribulation.

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Loved ones and Christians all over the

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world, a great multitude that no one can

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number,

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leaving this world, this tribulation to

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be with Jesus.

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Dear friends, it's entirely because of

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Jesus that they are there with Him.

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Our loved ones in heaven are there not

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because of anything they have done, not

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by being loving

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parents or good neighbors and the like.

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Rather their own scarlet, sin-stained

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robes have been washed in the sin solvent

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of their

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holy baptism through Christ's life-giving

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water and word.

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Though your sins be as scarlet, they

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shall be as white as snow.

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Though they be red like crimson, they

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shall be as wool.

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By faith, our loved ones in heaven

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trusted in Jesus as their only savior

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from sin.

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They sang that great hymn to the Lamb of

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God.

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O Christ, thou Lamb of God, that takest

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away the sin of the world, have mercy

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upon us.

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And now they sing the heavenly version of

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that hymn.

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Salvation belongs to our God who sits

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upon the throne and to the Lamb.

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A pastor shares a story of a young child

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in his congregation who was diagnosed

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with leukemia.

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For months and months the family battled

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this terrible disease with the word of

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God and

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prayer and medicine, but in the end

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little Chris died.

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And shortly after the funeral, Chris's

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father said to the pastor, you know,

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everybody has

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tried to comfort me by telling me that

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Chris is in heaven with Jesus.

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And I appreciate the care that they care

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enough to try and help.

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But then he went on to say something that

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every pastor dreads.

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Pastor, having Chris in heaven right now

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isn't helping me very much.

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I want him to be here with me today.

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I want to be with my little Chris.

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Pastor didn't know what to say.

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He spent several days in sleepless nights

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trying to wrestle with how could he bring

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the gospel to bear to this grieving

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father.

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And then it came to him on Sunday morning

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in the service of the sacrament when he

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and

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his congregation were praying those

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words, therefore with angels and

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archangels and with

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all the company of heaven.

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And so he told Chris's dad, there in the

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body and blood of Jesus, he comes to be

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with you.

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He unites himself with you to be your

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savior.

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And as he has united himself with you

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there in the sacrament of the altar, so

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also is

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he united with all the saints of heaven

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who have gone before us in Christ.

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And that includes little Chris.

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Father was overwhelmed.

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Now I get it.

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Whenever I come to the supper, Jesus is

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here with me and with my little Chris as

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well.

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Pastor, that gives me great comfort.

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And I can tell you that 26 years ago on

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that All Saints Sunday there in the

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middle of nowhere, Iowa.

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Those words with angels and archangels

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and all the company of heaven, the body

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and blood

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of our Lord Jesus Christ there in my

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grief.

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Never tasted more sweet.

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The same Jesus with whom my loved one now

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lives is also the same Jesus who comes to

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give me his life giving body and blood to

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eat and to drink.

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Here at the altar, we are both alive.

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And well.

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With Jesus.

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Nothing else matters in the end.

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In Jesus name, Amen.

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The peace of God which surpasses all

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understanding, keep your hearts and minds

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in Christ Jesus

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until life everlasting.

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Amen.