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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord

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and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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Who doesn't like a party?

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We as a people enjoy gathering. Gathering with friends, gathering with

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family gathering with acquaintances and to celebrate.

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We love a party because there is a reason for joy joy to be expressed

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joy to be shared joy to wrap its arms around us.

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I think about the things we celebrate with the party. Birthdays are

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one.

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We have a birthday professor in our midst today, Dr.

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Graudin.

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I'm sure you don't remember me, but in 1992, you helped place me in a

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church in New York.

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Placement is a party.

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Vicarage, placements are a party. You know, recently in October, my

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daughter got married and we had a party a really really expensive

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party.

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We like to party.

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And if you really think about it, God our heavenly Father, he likes a

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party too.

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And just read the book of Revelation, really read the book of

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Revelation.

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There is rejoicing and singing and honoring and praising.

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There is a party.

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Let's not forget our Lord and Savior Jesus.

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Did you ever notice that wherever he goes

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people want to gather?

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Preceding

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our text

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we are told there are large crowds with Jesus.

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And the Pharisees and the scribes show up.

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They're not happy about it.

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They're not happy about this party.

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And they're Jesus launches into The Parables of the lost sheep, the

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Lost coin, and of course, the two brothers.

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This Parable is going to come up in your homiletical

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 lives over and over again.

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It is familiar.

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It's like an uncomfortable pair of old shoes.

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We want to focus on the younger son, but wait a minute

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there's that older son

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and let's not forget the father.

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And if we look at that, Parable, how does it end?

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A party.

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As I think about this Parable, that Jesus shares.

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It strikes me that the younger son, The Prodigal Son,

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and the older mature brother suffer from the same sinful condition.

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They're both incredibly self-centered.

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You see, they've taken the father's love really for granted.

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I think it's rather bold on the younger son to go to the father and

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say, Hey, Dad

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I know you're not dead yet.

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But I would like my inheritance now.

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And if we do some reading and commentaries about it, we discover that

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probably the younger son was entitled to roughly a third of the

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estate, the older son about two-thirds and the amazing thing is the

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father goes, okay.

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And in the text

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there's these little words that just kind of pop up and he divided

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what he had between them.

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Now, we know the story of the younger son.

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He goes out wine and women and song in a foreign country and things

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become so desperate.

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That he runs out of money and famine hits the land and there he is.

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This good Jewish boy tending pigs and not even being able to eat the

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very pods of which he is feeding them.

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Oh poor poor pitiful me.

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What shall I do?

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But let's not forget the older brother.

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The good boy.

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Who stayed home.

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He took care of the business.

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He worked the land.

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He did, what good older sons are supposed to do.

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They're both incredibly self-centered.

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Think about it.

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One son

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wallowing in misery and pity.

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Oh, poor poor

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pitiful me.

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Meanwhile the other brother over here working and going my no-good

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brother

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left me here to do all of this all alone.

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Let's think about that older, son for a moment.

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Do you think he had some plans

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for that inheritance?

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You think it bothered him that his brother asked and then received

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what he asked for.

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Do you ever do that?

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Not me, not ever.

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Do you ever find yourself begrudging

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what others receive around you?

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Let's all go take a walk to the financial aid office together and see

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how we compare.

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That would be uncomfortable.

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But maybe it's when we turn on the news and we hear about unemployment

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this morning on the Today Show while I was getting ready to come here.

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They were talking about people who are now regretting, quitting their

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jobs during the pandemic.

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Oh poor poor them.

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Do you ever feel that way?

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Do you ever look and go

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why can't I have the nice car?

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The nice house, the better Church.

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The better call the better office with the view.

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And we begrudge those around us who have received.

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And all of a sudden the older brother becomes incredibly relatable.

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Now, what I don't want you to forget in the midst of this, Parable is

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dear old dad.

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You see the father provides, doesn't he?

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He provides the both sons in share in their capacity to receive.

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And what about us?

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Does our loving Father, prepare and provide for you and me?

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Does he give you your life and your breath?

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Does he give you your house in your homes?

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Does he give you your child and spouse and goods?

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Oh, that sounds very Lutheran and Small Catechism, esk does it not?

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And yet we find ourselves going

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well, why me?

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Why not more?

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Why God is this happening today?

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And all of a sudden that self-centered arrow is pointing right back at

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us.

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So let me ask you a can question about the human condition.

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Is there anything worse than death?

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Because this is where the younger son finds himself, doesn't he?

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I mean, he's facing starvation in a foreign land away from his family.

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Is there a condition worse than death?

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And I would tell you there is, it's lost.

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Lost in our trespasses, lost in our sin lost from the loving arms of

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the Father.

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And it's precisely in his lostness

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that the younger son goes

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I know where to go.

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Back to Dad.

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And sometimes we want to read into his motives a little bit, but let's

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just take it at face value.

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He prepares his confession, he prepares to receive

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the worst.

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But he prepares to be at the feet of his father.

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Now, let's ask the same question about the son but in different way,

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is there any condition in life that is better than being alive?

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Well, death would be the other option.

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But think about that for a moment, we're all alive right now.

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But do you always feel as though you're living?

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Do you find yourself going through, the motions doing the least, the

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minimal or the like to get through a test to paper, a class, a

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student, or whatever?

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Just to get by.

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Isn't that kind of where the older brother was?

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But we're called to live live in the grace and the mercy and the

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forgiveness of God.

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We're called to receive this

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incredible blessing of Jesus.

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Instead of just going through the motions of life live.

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Live like Jesus matters.

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Live as though, the gospel were alive and well, in your heart in your

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soul, in your mind, in your being.

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It isn't that kind of what the father says to the older brother,

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because there again, there's that party that the father throws for the

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younger son, kills the fatted, calf puts on the robe, the ring and the

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slippers, invites everybody to it.

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And it's the older brother who will not go into that party.

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Because he's not ready to live.

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He's not ready to live in the presence of the father.

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I challenge you today

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that this Seminary, my alma mater,

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is more than just theology.

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Oh, I said that I'm sorry John.

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It's more than study.

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It's more than Community.

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It's living in Jesus every single day together.

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It's living in that forgiveness and certainty that he has prepared a

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place for you at the heavenly banquet. That

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party in heaven, which has no end. And

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by the way, he's not going to charge you to get in the door because

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the price has been paid.

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Jesus paid that once and for all admission for you through his life,

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blood poured out upon the Cross of Calvary.

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And all of a sudden, our self-centeredness begins to melt away.

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And we stand in the loving arms of the Father

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who welcomes the wandering

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prodigal

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as well as the thick-headed older son.

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So live.

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Breathe.

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Express

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the joy of the Heavenly party

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that Jesus has invited us to.

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And oh, by the way, invite others to join you there as well.

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And knowing and believing this may the peace of God, which passes all

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understanding. May it

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keep your hearts and your minds through faith in one Lord, Jesus

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Christ.

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Now, and unto eternal life.

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Amen.