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In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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If I hold this up,

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what can you see? What's the first thing

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that meets your eye? What's interesting

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about this?

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I don't know about you, but I probably

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would look at the center here and try to

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figure out

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what's actually being depicted, but this

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is not my point. Probably nobody paid

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attention to the

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frame, and it's the frame that I want to

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talk about because when I received this

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appointment

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for today, when the chapel schedule came

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out, well, I did what most people will

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do. You look

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for your name. Once you found your name,

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the next thing is, well, what kind of

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text or what text has

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been assigned, and then you immediately

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put this in a frame, in a context. So,

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when I saw 1 Peter 3,

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I jumped to the conclusion, wow, this is

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the text about the descent into hell,

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and I said, wow, what's going on? What is

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this text doing in January in chapel?

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The thing is, you can put this text or

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try to put this text in the frame of the

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descent into hell.

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It can be done, and it has been done. The

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sainted, Dr. Martin
Scharlemann, wrote a very

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influential

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and important essay on this. This is

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almost 70 years old, and he wrote, the

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clearest passage in

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the New Testament on the descent of

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Christ is 1 Peter 3:18 to 20. This is

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the first Martin,

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Martin Scharlemann. I had the privilege of

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studying under him a very interesting

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course on the

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principles of our Lord. But now comes a

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second Martin, Martin Franzmann, in his

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Concordia self-study

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Bible, and he kind of says, hey, brother

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Scharlemann, not so fast. Are you sure that

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this text fits in

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this context, in this frame? Yeah, in a

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sense, it says he went, but it doesn't

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say he went down,

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and spirits in prison must then be

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interpreted as souls in hell. Well, I'm

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not gonna be the arbiter

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or the referee in this case. Maybe this

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can be done by Dr. Voelz. He studied under

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both of these

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giants. I need to move on because this is

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not my point here. I want to put this

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text in a different

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frame because the moment I got this

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chapel schedule, the next thing I did was

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to look

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closely, and in looking closely, I saw

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that the text was already in a frame, in

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a different frame,

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a brighter frame. It's the frame of the

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week of the baptism of our Lord, and the

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hymn is a baptismal hymn.

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So thank you Dr. Vieker
for providing this different

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frame, it takes on a different meaning, a

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meaning of baptism, but not so fast. We

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need to move slowly.

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Martin Franzmann, he writes that this

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passage about Christ's proclamation to

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the spirits is

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a digression or a digression in the main

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theme of the passage. Now I would say if

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this is a

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digression, then it's a digression in a

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digression. I mean, this reference to

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baptism, because the

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context talks about Christians suffering

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for doing good, and then it goes on,

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Christ also suffered?

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And then he was put to death, he made

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this proclamation to the spirits, they

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were disobedient

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at the time of Noah, of the flood, and

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then from the flood he moves into

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baptism. So before getting

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to baptism, we need to deal in passing

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with the flood. Now I don't know about

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you, but when I see

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or think about the flood, I normally put

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it in a dark frame. Oh yeah, all mankind

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destroyed. What

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a catastrophe, but not so with Saint

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Peter. He puts the flood in a bright

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frame, in a positive

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frame. He sees the cup half full, he

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says, eight people were saved. Yeah,

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eight people were saved,

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and he does so because he reads the Old

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Testament typologically. And I don't know

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exactly why people

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have so much trouble with translating

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this text which has this typological

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language. Sure, it says

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antitypos, the anti-type, and then they

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come up with all kinds of renderings, it

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represents, it is

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this, it's that, but it's clearly

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typological language. So if baptism is

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the anti-type, then

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the flood must be the type. Now how can

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the flood be the type if it's normally so

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that the anti-type

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exceeds? The anti-type is bigger than the

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type. Now it's not necessarily, yeah it

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cannot be in the amount of

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water by no means, but it is in the

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extent and the nature of salvation. Yeah,

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baptism is bigger than

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the flood. How marvelous, how beautiful.

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So we put the flood in a bright frame.

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Now it's time,

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I've been talking about and holding these

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frames, but I think it's time to put

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these frames aside

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and invite you to look at a different

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frame. We are actually framed here in the

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good sense,

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we are framed. We are sitting in a frame,

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a symbolic frame. We are surrounded by

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this blue,

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the watery blue, and this is intentional.

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This is representing the water of

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baptism,

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and Saint Peter says baptism saves you.

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This is an important point, it saves you.

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Not everybody

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confesses this. If you look at maybe

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doctrinal textbooks put out by different

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denominations,

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and you look for this passage in the

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chapter on baptism, you'll not always

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find it, but it's a

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very important passage, a very important

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passage in the context of this blue

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surrounding here.

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Baptism is also, as the text says, it is

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also an appeal, an eperotema, a request

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to God through

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Jesus Christ's resurrection. This is also

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controversial because it has been

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translated

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differently, and I think since the King

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James it has been translated as the

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answer. Well,

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it cannot be an answer, it must be a

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question. So Eugene Peterson, in his The

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Message,

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he translates this very interestingly. He

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says, the waters of baptism do that,

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namely they save

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you now, not by washing away the dirt

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from your skin, but by presenting you

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through Jesus'

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resurrection before God with a clear

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conscience. Baptism has this dimension.

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It is a saving event,

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but it's also a request, an appeal, and I

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would say an ongoing appeal, a continual

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renewal of

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baptism through Jesus Christ, through His

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resurrection, because the resurrection of

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Jesus is a guarantee of our

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justification, and baptism is the

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sacrament of justification.

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So now back to the blue frame we are in.

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In this marvelous, beautiful frame, we

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constantly renew

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or go back to our baptism. Here we

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understand what it means to be saved by

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baptism, and what

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is it? What is entailed in this being

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saved? Well, I think we can put it in a

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joyful and defiant way

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as we have it in that one beautiful hymn.

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We can say, immersed in this water here,

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in this blue

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frame, God's own child I am, I gladly say

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it, I am baptized into Christ. Sin

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disturbed my soul

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no longer. I am baptized into Christ.

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Satan, hear this proclamation, I am

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baptized into Christ. Death,

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you cannot end my gladness. I am baptized

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into Christ. So repeat after me, God's

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own child,

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I gladly say it, I am baptized into

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Christ. God's own child, I gladly say it,

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I am baptized into Christ. Amen.