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Peace be to you and grace from him who shed His blood and freed us from our sins, even

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Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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The text for our sermon this morning is from Mark 10.

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And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them.

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And they were amazed.

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And those who followed were afraid.

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My brother Dean and I had a very different opinion about things, about pretty much everything

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when we were growing up.

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Now we agree about pretty much everything that really matters, but there's still one

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issue that divides us.

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It's one of those deeply meaningful aspects of life and it shocks me that we're still

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somehow able to talk to each other.

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I'm talking of course about roller coasters.

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My brother was a bit of a wild thing.

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He used to do all kinds of seriously dangerous stuff with a skateboard.

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He once climbed up the outside of a parking garage without ropes.

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He used to ride motorcycles at breakneck pace and to this day he loves careering around

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a dirt track on a four wheeler.

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I enjoy speed myself, but my brother Dean is on a totally different level.

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So when it comes to roller coasters, I guess you can figure out who's the fan and who can't

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stand them.

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I'm the fan.

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My brother would not ride one if you paid him.

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Doesn't seem to make sense, right?

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Well there's a reason for this and it all goes back to a ghost town.

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More specifically it goes back to Ghost Town of the Sky which was an amusement park in

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Maggie Valley, North Carolina, pretty close to where I grew up.

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When my brother was about seven years old, my uncle took him to this amusement park,

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just kind of like a special treat.

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They rode the rides, they played the games, and then there was this smallish roller coaster.

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So they get in, my brother straps on his belt, and they start, everybody's having a blast,

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it's a lot of fun, and then my brother starts to slip out of his seat.

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So my uncle reaches over and has to hold him in place during the whole ride, otherwise

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he would have fallen out.

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So ever since then, Dean, my brother, and roller coasters have not even been on nodding

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turns.

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So I asked him not too long ago, hey why don't you try it again, just see how it goes.

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You jump down flights of stairs on your skateboard, you ride motorcycles, why not a roller coaster?

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He gave me a hard no.

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You see it wasn't just that episode of Ghost Town that put him off roller coasters.

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I pretty much have control over my bike, he said, pretty much have control over my skateboard,

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but I have no control at all over what happens with a roller coaster.

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You see Dean wasn't afraid of speed, he's not afraid of flying upside down, he's afraid

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of losing control.

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And I think that's precisely the same thing that terrifies the disciples.

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At the beginning of our reading, Mark tells us that Jesus is dead set on going to Jerusalem.

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We know He sets His face like flint and nothing's going to stand in His way.

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And He's not just casually heading in that direction, Jesus is making tracks.

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He leaves everybody else in the dust as He races toward the holy city, and Mark tells

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us that people seem to have two kinds of reactions to Jesus' steely resolve.

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Mark says, and they were amazed.

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No wonder.

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People know about Jesus now, He's earned quite a reputation for Himself, and the crowds of

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people were watching Him.

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These folks were the spectators, kind of gawking at a celebrity.

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Some of them were probably fans, they liked the way Jesus rattled the cages of Israel's

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power brokers, and today He's charging straight into enemy territory.

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They may not have been on board with everything that Jesus said or did, but His courage floored

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them.

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They were amazed.

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And then there's the other group.

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There's the group of those who followed Him.

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They're the disciples who went where He went, who prayed as He prayed, who did what He did.

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They tried to learn how to speak and think as He spoke and thought.

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They followed, and that's what terrified them.

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Marching into Jerusalem terrified them because when they entered those walls, they would

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have zero control over what would happen.

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Following Jesus into Jerusalem would require them to let go completely and to entrust everything

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to Jesus.

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And part of me wonders if that's why James and John did what they did.

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We all know they were looking for glory, but if they could sit at Jesus right and left,

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maybe they thought we could influence Him.

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If James and John could sit at His right and left, maybe they could have some sense of

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control, but Jesus will not grant that request.

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He marches on.

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And so do the disciples for a while.

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As they arrive at the Holy City, the crowds seem to be on Jesus' side, the spectators,

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the fans, they're all watching, cheering.

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The disciples know they aren't the only ones who are watching.

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So are the Romans, keeping a close eye on things.

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And so are the chief priests and the elders.

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They're poised, waiting, watching the right moment like a boxer waiting to land a perfectly

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timed uppercut.

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They want to bring Jesus down, but the timing has to be perfect.

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Those who followed sense that everything stood on a knife's edge.

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He's doing about a little.

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And Jesus will fall, and they will go down with Him simply by guilt of association.

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They have to be careful.

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But then Jesus goes and storms the temple.

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It's as if He has no concern for His life at all.

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You know how the rest of the story goes.

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On the Thursday of that week as they celebrate the Passover in the upper room, there's this

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unbearable tension.

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Jesus talks about His body being broken, about His blood being poured out.

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He speaks of denial and betrayal and death.

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And as they go to the garden, they know that something has to give.

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It's as if the string has been pulled too tight and it's about to snap.

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And then it does.

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And the disciples scatter like leaves before the storm.

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And who can blame them?

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Things have just got out of hand.

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Following Jesus does cost too much.

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They can't lose control completely.

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They have to have some say over their lives.

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But Jesus called His disciples to be servants, slaves.

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And when you think about it, that's what the life of a servant really is.

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The servant always lives out of control.

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You never know exactly where the master's call will take you or what he'll have you

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do.

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You never know what circumstances faithful service will entail.

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No, to live as a servant is to live your life as if it did not belong to you.

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To live as a servant is to live your life as if it were entirely in the hands of your

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master.

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That is scary.

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We want a handle on our lives.

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We want the final word.

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After all, who wants the best for you more than you do?

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Who cares about you more than you care for yourself?

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Who loves you more than you do?

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And isn't that what's really in play when we sin?

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When you live for yourself and deny your neighbor?

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When you follow your own desires and not God's?

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When you keep your mouth shut?

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When you know that you should speak?

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And when you don't look away from an image when you know that you should?

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What are you doing?

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You're not entrusting your life into Jesus' hands.

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You're running with the disciples, fleeing the garden, because you want the control of

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your life.

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Because it's yours, right?

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Well then Jesus' words come back to us.

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If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

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For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake

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will find it.

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Living out of control seems like the worst possible idea, the most dangerous thing of

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all.

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Living out of control, living your life as if it did not belong to you, at least to nothing

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but disappointment and sorrow and grief and death, right?

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And isn't that what Satan has been telling human beings from the day that Adam and Eve

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fell until this day?

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It's the lie that your life is safer in your hands than it is in God's.

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The lie that you know better than God how to live your life.

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The lie that you care more about yourself than God does.

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The lie that if you follow Jesus to Jerusalem, if you pick up your cross, if you die to yourself

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and live for Him, then you will be no more.

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It's the lie that you love yourself more than God loves you.

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But in fact, precisely the opposite is true.

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You see, servanthood really is the only way to live, to really live.

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It's only when you try to control your life, when you try to be in charge, when you strive

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to hold onto your life in your own sinful, fallible, mortal hands, only then are you

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really in danger.

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No, it's when you live out of control and entrust your life into the hands of another

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that you are actually alive.

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There's only one set of hands that can be trusted absolutely with your life and those

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hands are nail scarred.

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Jesus marches into Jerusalem, straight to the cross, straight into death, straight into

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hell for you.

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And it all comes true, every word that He prophesied, I will be delivered over to the

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chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn me to death and deliver me over to

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the Gentiles and they will mock me and spit on me and flog me and kill me.

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I do it all for you, to forgive you, to give you life.

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Because after three days, I will rise again.

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Brothers and sisters, I don't know what area of your life you're holding back or still

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trying to control.

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I only know that it is scary to live life as a servant and that Satan weaponizes that

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fear.

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But when Satan does come with his lie that your life is more secure in your hands than

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in God's, that it's more expedient to disobey than to obey, that you can make a better future

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for yourself by following your own will, remember the cross and see how much God loves you.

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He loves you to death, to hell and back.

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Remember the cross and see the Lord who cares for your life, but seems to care nothing for

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his own.

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Remember the cross and see how faithful He is.

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God raises His Son and He will raise you too.

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Amen.

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Now may the Holy Spirit keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, the life everlasting.

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Amen.