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

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Savior

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Jesus Christ.

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Amen. Jesu uva.

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I once served a congregation for five years and during that whole

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time, I did not have any funerals.

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Not the one.

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Everybody, I prayed for got well.

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True.

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I was going to buy a white suit and go on TV.

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But no the image would not quite right.

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And what about poor Jesus in our text for today? He had been out and about

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doing mighty works, such as healing, and passing out evil spirits and

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he comes to Nazareth his hometown.

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After the reading, he stands up to comment on the text.

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What does he say?

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He preaches, the good news of the kingdom of God with his usual power

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and clarity.

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Repent

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for the kingdom of God is at hand.

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Have faith toward God, be baptized and your sins will be forgiven.

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For our God is gracious and merciful

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slow to anger and swift to forgive. Now word had gotten around about

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Jesus.

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People everywhere were talking about his strong messages and his

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strong works of power. In Mark's gospel, I recorded six exorcisms,

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9 healings and six works of power such as calming

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the storm. In the preceding chapter, he had passed out

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 legions of demons from the Gerasenes

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demoniac, and he brought Jairus's daughter back to life.

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One of only three instances where he raised the dead.

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What  does this all

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add up to?

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These Mighty works

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were things that can only be done by the power of God Almighty maker,

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of heaven, and Earth. They prove without a doubt

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that Jesus of Nazareth was exactly who he said he was the only begotten

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Son of God.

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Come into this world to save sinners, like you and like me.

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And each of these mighty works, he was reconquering and reclaiming

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territory that had been stolen and usurped by the devil. Jesus

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heals the sick

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it is Gospel for the body.

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He casts out demons it

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is Gospel for the soul.

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Now, in our preaching, we mainly focus on Christ passive,

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righteousness and rightly

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so.

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His suffering his humiliation.

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His death his burial.

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Those blessed things that pay the ransom price for our sins. But here

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is his positive role perfectly obeying God's law for you.

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He's doing what you cannot do.

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Here is Christ, the warrior King though hidden as it were 

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Deus absconditus.

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He conquerors in these little ways to demonstrate that one day, he

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will return to this planet to reconquer all of the devil's stolen

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property.

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But his own people rejected him.

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What about you?

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How do you handle it when you're out there in the parish

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and get rejected?

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Yes, you lay up treasures in Heaven, as you come to know Christ in

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the fellowship of his suffering.

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On the other hand.

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Well.

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This year is the 40th anniversary of my class.

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We'll get together in October, drink some beer and tell lies about

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what great preachers and pastors

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we all were.

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The one classmate of mine was having conflict with his

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congregation. This one particular, family had ruled

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that congregation for decades.

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And this pastor came along and tried to do things a little

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differently, the Jesus way.

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One night this Pastor,

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classmate of mine,

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was in the church basement

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after a contentious meeting he's turning out the lights.

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And all of a sudden, all the lights went off.

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Somebody threw a blanket over top of him and a group of men beat the

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crap out of him.

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The pastor and the people of his own church.

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There are congregation's out there that chew up their pastors and spit

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them out.

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Leaving a traumatized pastor and a disillusioned wife, and family. So

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here Jesus is rejected at Nazareth.

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They were offended by him.

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God

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was offense.

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What dioes Jesus do?

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Same thing, he tells the disciples to do, shake the dust off your feet

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and keep going.

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It says you went about the villages teaching go

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missions and outreach. Teach.

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Maintain a solid basis of dogmatic theology

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which you're getting here. Jesus demonstrates in his own person

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the Great Commission and he is still going and teaching today through

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you.

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It says you called the 12.

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Here Jesus calls directly.

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You will soon be called by the same Christ

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although, through the agency of the Church. He is still the Christ and

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it is still the same Divine call whether to the 12 or to you.

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It says he sent them out.

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You too will be sent. Have no doubt that the Holy Spirit is working

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through the call process even though you might be sent to Podunk,

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Idaho.

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It says, you gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

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Do they have a course in exorcism here

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or miracle working,

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or healing? Listen

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Jesus, did it.

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The disciples did it.

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Now, it's your turn

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to go and do as Jesus and the Disciples did. Now some of you will be

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sent by Christ into the foreign Mission field.

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Asia Africa, Latin America, where demonic activity is rampant.

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Most of you will be sent by Christ to congregations in America

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where demonic activity is also rampant.

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Widespread drug use heroin in the high schools legalized

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marijuana.

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I wonder how many of you are stoned right now?

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It's here

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and pastors are not exempt, witchcraft is part of the drug culture.

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Breakdown of families, abortion racial violence, persecution of the

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church and on and on. Expect to be challenged by Satan as part of your

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vocation as pastor. And don't forget Satan will come after you

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personally with everything

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he's got. Your his worst enemy

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you are snatching his prey from between his teeth.

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I hope to God none of you won't be lost, but I know some will.

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One Lutheran Pastor, I know,

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is facing five years minimum sentence

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and probably a lot more in a federal penitentiary for distribution of

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child, pronography.

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Man vself.

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To submit to the discipline of private confession and absolution. Find

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a father Confessor blab

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it all out it'll do any good. And be shriven and rejoice in the

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forgiveness

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that is yours in Christ.

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You're only a man.

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You only live a few years on this Earth.

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Time is short.

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There's a limit to how many sins you can commit.

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But the mercy of the Lord

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is from Everlasting to Everlasting.

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It is as vast and deep as the ocean.

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Now in this passage

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Jesus disciples are ordinary men like you. Yet

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when Jesus sent them out

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they did the mighty works

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that Jesus was unable to do at Nazareth, see. Jesus

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does what we're unable to do when the disciples do, what Jesus was

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unable to do, how about that.

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They proclaim the gospel that people should repent.

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This is short for the whole proclamation of the love of God for poor

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sinners through this sinless death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,

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the Lamb of God.

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And this above all never forget, that the power of God is unleashed in the

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sacrament of Holy Baptism, the missionary Sacrament and the old

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formula it included a minor exorcism.

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Today, we say, do you renounce, the devil, the vestige of it.

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The Apostle James says, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

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We who are baptized have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness

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to the kingdom of light.

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We died with Christ and rise to newness of life.

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Every time you baptize someone, you are doing a mighty work by the

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power of God, same as Jesus, same as the 12.

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The same Christ who gave authority to his disciples and given that

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same authority to you.

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Jesus Christ the same yesterday today

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and forever. He is hidden

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but he is here. He is with you to the end of the age. He will empower

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you against the rulers of cosmic powers of this present, darkness in

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the spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly realms. For his is the

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kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

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Amen.

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Now may the peace of God

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which passes all understanding.

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Keep your hearts and minds in Christ

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Jesus

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our Lord. Amen.