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In Jesus name dear friends.

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In the Book of Revelation

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we are told toward the beginning of the 12th chapter about the great

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red dragon.

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Who stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when

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she bore her child, he would be able to devour it.

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Of course, we know that the dragon failed to devour the child.

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The wise men were warned in a dream to return to their country by a

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different route.

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And Joseph was warned in a dream to take his wife and the baby Jesus

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and flee to Egypt so that he would be protected from Harrod's wrath

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and from the Wrath of the Dragon.

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But the wrath of the dragon did not subside.

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He may have been frustrated by his initial failure to destroy the

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child that he did not abandon his plan.

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Throughout the life of Jesus Satan continued to pursue him

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and his wrath did not diminish.

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We are told in the Gospel of Luke that when Jesus had finished

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preaching to the people in Nazareth in the synagogue. All in the synagogue

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were filled with wrath.

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And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the

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brow of the hill on which their town was built so that they could

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throw him over the cliff.

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And even before that Satan's malice and hatred toward the Christ had

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led him to attack Jesus in the wilderness with one temptation after

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another. And all of his devices were meant to destroy Jesus so that he

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might destroy Jesus mission to save his people.

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Nor was Satan above using Jesus on disciples to further his attack.

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Peter tried to persuade Jesus not to go to Jerusalem, even though it

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was in Jerusalem that Jesus would win his victory over death and the

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devil.

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Jesus had to correct him openly and directly.

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Get behind me Satan.

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And finally Judas uses was used by Satan to betray Jesus. To bring

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about his capture and his death and presumably his destruction.

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We're told in the Gospel of Luke then Satan entered into Judas called

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Iscariot who was one of the number of the 12 he went away and

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conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him

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to them.

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The dragons raging

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against the woman's child did not end.

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Until those Victorious words cried out by Jesus on the cross.

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It is finished.

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And the heel

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of the Savior crushed the head of the Dragon.

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But a great deal had to happen before those triumphant words were

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uttered.

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God says in our texts out of Egypt

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I called my son.

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Matthew tells us that this was in fulfillment of the prophet Hosea and

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so it was.

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But this was not the first time

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that God had called his son out of Egypt.

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In Psalm 80 we read you brought a vine out of Egypt.

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You drove out the nation's and planted it. You cleared the ground for

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it it took deep root and fill the land. The mountains were covered with

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its shade the mighty cedars with its branches.

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It sent out its branches to the sea and it shoots to the river.

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The picture painted by the psalmist is not that difficult to

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understand.

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We know the history of the people of Israel. Jacob and his sons and

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their families went to Egypt during a time of famine and had been

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preserved by God through the wisdom and the management of Joseph.

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But over a period

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of many years the descendants of Jacob, the children of Israel, had

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become nothing more than slaves to the Egyptians.

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So God true to his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and under the

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leadership of his servant Moses called his son out of Egypt.

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He planted his people

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in the land, he had promised their forefathers and he did everything

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possible to make it so that they would be able to produce good fruit

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and flourish.

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But something went wrong.

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Isaiah picks this theme up this theme of the vine and he elaborates.

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He writes let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his

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Vineyard.

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My beloved had a Vineyard on a very fertile Hill.

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He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines.

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He build a watchtower in the midst of it and who doubt a wine vat in

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it, and he looked for it to yield grapes

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but it yielded wild grapes.

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God had done everything possible

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to make sure that his Vineyard would be able to produce good fruit.

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The signs of his kindness and Providence have been manifold. The

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magnitude of his mercy and forgiveness had been immeasurable. His care

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for Israel could not have been greater.

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He had every right to expect good fruit.

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Sincere gratitude for his gifts,

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praise of his mercy, testimony to his goodness obedience to his

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Commandments.

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Good fruit

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not rancid fruit.

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But it didn't happen.

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God himself laments through his prophet Isaiah.

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A week or so ago, we had a service of lamentation here focused on

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the lamentation of God's people here in Isaiah God himself laments.

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And expresses himself through his Prophet what more was there to do

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for my Vineyard that I have not done in it?

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When I looked for it to yield grapes, why

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did it yield wild grapes?

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And then Isaiah concludes.

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The Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel

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and the men of Judah is pleasant planted planning.

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He looked for justice, but behold bloodshed.

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He looked for righteousness, but behold an outcry.

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There's no need to belabor the point.

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What God had called his son

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his people his Vine to be you failed miserably to be.

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So once again God calls his son out of Egypt this time his only

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begotten son.

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And plants him this beautiful vine

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in Nazareth.

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And this Vine grows and is nourished and flourishes.

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And it produces good fruit so that at the age of 12 we are told that

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he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God

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and man.

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At his baptism the father speaks from Heaven saying this is my beloved

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Son in whom I am well pleased.

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And at his Transfiguration the father declares again.

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This is my beloved Son

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in whom I am well pleased. And so it is that Jesus himself says I am

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the True Vine.

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He is not like the vine called out of Egypt that produced stinking

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grapes.

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He says I am the True Vine.

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And my father is the vinedresser.

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And what does that mean for us?

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God does not call us out of Egypt

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or out of St.

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Louis or Florida or Pennsylvania or Michigan or Texas or wherever it

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is we come from

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to produce the fruit that the world needs.

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He does not plant us as vines to produce that which can save the

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world.

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There is only one true vine that can produce truly good fruit.

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And that vine is Jesus.

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He has kept God's law perfectly on our behalf.

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He has offered his own innocent blood for our Salvation.

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He has died the death we deserved in order that we might be forgiven.

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He has defeated the strongman so that through the stronger man

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we might have life.

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He has risen from Death in order that we might follow him in

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Resurrection to everlasting life. All this is the fruit

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produced by the vine that God called out of Egypt.

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The purpose of a fine is to produce good fruit for others.

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Others eat or drink the fruit of the vine and are its beneficiaries.

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We are the ones we Christians who eat and drink of the fruit of the

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vine, Jesus.

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And so from the life the death and the resurrection of this True Vine.

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We receive forgiveness for all our sins and everlasting life.

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And that's not all.

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Not only do we benefit from the fruit of the True Vine through faith in

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him

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you and I are grafted into the True Vine and as a result, we produce

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good fruit ourselves.

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Jesus says it I am the Vine.

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You are the branches whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that

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bears much fruit.

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I have frequently received comfort from the fact that the Greek word

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translated bears is in the present tense.

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Bears much fruit.

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Not

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might bear,

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could bear,

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one day we'll bear.

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No.

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He who abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit.

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You may look at your life and think that you see very little evidence

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of Kingdom fruit if I can use that term.

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But if you are a Christian

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Jesus says it's there.

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If you are a Christian you are bearing fruit.

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Even if you don't see it.

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Toward the end of the 12th chapter of Revelation.

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We're told that the dragon pursued the women the woman who had given

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birth to the child, but that she was given the wings of an eagle that

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she might fly into the Wilderness to escape the serpent.

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In this case the woman appears to be a symbol for the church. Furious

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that he could not devour the child

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the dragon vents is fury on those whose life comes from the child.

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Thus we who are Christians become the objects of his fury.

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He wants to destroy us.

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And we could find this truth

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very frightening.

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But just as the woman was given the wings of an eagle to fly from the

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serpent Into the Wilderness.

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So God has made it possible for you and me also to be protected from

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the wrath of the Dragon.

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Jesus said about the confession of Peter.

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That he would build his church on it and that the gates of hell would

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not be able to prevail against it.

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This is the confession that protects us from Satan.

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You Jesus are the Christ.

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The son of the Living God and with this confession on our lips and in

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our hearts we are safe

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from the assaults of Satan.

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And grafted into the True Vine that God called out of Egypt the vine

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that was planted and nourished and tended by the heavenly Father to

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produce good and everlasting fruit.

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We live securely as branches in the vine Itself by his grace producing

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good fruit to his glory.

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In Jesus name. Amen.