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[ Silence ] [Music] Father alone we'll know all about it. Father alone we'll understand why.

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Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and by. Farther along we'll know about him. Farther along we'll understand why.

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Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine. We'll understand him, all by and by. By and by, when the morning comes, and all the saints are gone, we'll gather in hope.

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We will tell the story, how we overcome, and we'll understand it better. ♪ Oh, my God ♪ ♪ Father, Lord, we know all about it ♪

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♪ Father, Lord, we understand why ♪ ♪ Share of my brother live in the sunshine ♪ ♪ We'll understand it ♪ ♪ Oh, by and by ♪

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♪ By and by ♪ ♪ When the morning comes ♪ ♪ When all the saints of God will gather at home ♪ ♪ Oh, we'll tell the story ♪

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♪ How we overcome ♪ ♪ And we'll understand it better ♪ ♪ Oh, my, oh, my ♪ ♪ Father alone we ♪

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♪ Know all about it ♪ ♪ Father alone we ♪ ♪ Understand why ♪ ♪ Share, my brother ♪

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♪ Live in the sunshine ♪ ♪ Oh my God ♪ - Let us all say amen. - Amen.

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- Once again, God has given us an opportunity and a glorious privilege to be in his house of worship. To my father in the ministry, my pastor, Reverend Griffin, my brother in the ministry, Reverend Renfro,

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to all my brothers and sisters, it is indeed a pleasure to stand here before you. And I want to thank God for being so good to me. And I want to thank my pastor once again

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for giving me the opportunity to stand here behind this sacred desk. Let us bow for a word of prayer. Oh, gracious master, we thank thee

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that you've been so good to us, that you've carried us thus far. And we ask for your blessings, for your strength, for your spirit at this time, that the word of God

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may be preached. Lord, we ask that the words of our mouth, meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

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Amen. Reverend Renfro has given us-- he has read for us our scripture lesson for this morning. It's found in the 52nd book of Psalms.

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What I'd like to do is draw special attention to the eighth verse of that book. And it reads as follows, "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.

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I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever." The subject of the message, "A Tree in the House." A tree in the house. As indicated in the heading of this psalm, this psalm was written by David during the

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time when he was being pursued, when he was running for his life from King Saul. The 21st and the 22nd chapter of the book of 1 Samuel records how David goes to the land of Nar. And he goes into the house of Amalek the high, the priest, the priest of God. And he goes to find refuge there. But while he is there, there is one inside that

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area by the name of Doag, who just happened to be the head shepherd for the king, that is King Saul. And he betrays David, for he goes back and he tells the king, "I saw David go in the the house of Amalek for refuge.

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And because of this, David has to continue running for his life. It is a sad and depressing picture to see one who has to continue running to save his or her life. To be constantly on the run, on the lam, to be always surrounded by dangerous and threatening

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situations. It is a very sad and depressing picture. But this is the picture that we see in David's life at this time. We see David on the run to save his life. It is a picture of David in the yesteryear? And is it a picture?

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It is a picture of our children of today. For you see, that which is in hot pursuit of David, danger, threatening circumstance, The threat of his very existence being snuffed out, that is the plight of our children today. David in this psalm, in the fourth verse, says of Doeg, "Thou lovest all devouring

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words, "O thou deceitful tongue." In other words, it seems that David is saying these words about Doak, "It seems that you desire evil for me when I would have nothing wrong to do toward you? What you have done to me was totally unnecessary.

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I have nothing against you. And yet you have used your tongue in a deceitful manner to destroy me." And this is a very sad, sad picture. It is a very dangerous and intrepid portrait of David's life.

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But the same can be said of our children today. They face threatening situations. They offer no evil to those who would seek to destroy them, and yet there are those who are out to take advantage of a child.

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In the book, The Brothers Karamazov, by the Russian author, Dostoevsky, he talks about a scene where a nobleman sicks his dog on an eight-year-old boy and he tears this, that is the dog tears the boy apart. All because the boy threw a rock in the direction of the nobleman. He didn't hit him, he just threw a rock in his direction.

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And because of this, this nobleman tells the dog, gives directions to his animal to tear up the life of this human being. That is a very graphic and depressing picture. That's something when I first read that, I read that book and I read that I was thinking

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that's something that's hard to imagine. But do you know today, brothers and sisters, we have the same thing going on in our society? In our society we have the dogs of devastation that are out to destroy our children. The pastor mentioned in his address, in his presidential address the other night, about

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how it seems society cares more for dogs and cats than they do for children. I read a very sad account the other day about a mother who had gotten up one morning, one Saturday morning. She had three beautiful children and she fixed them breakfast, that is she poured them a

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bowl, some bowls of cereal. And she turned on the TV so they can watch Saturday morning cartoons. And as they sat there eating their cereal and they were watching the TV, she went to the bedroom and she took a hit of crack.

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And she came back to the living room and she took an ironing cord and she strangled two of her lovely children. She was going to do it to the third, but somehow something kept her from it. And after she did it, she laid the cord down, called the police, and waited for them to

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come. And when the police got there, they asked her, "Now, you know, what, why in the world could you do such a horrible thing to your own children?" And her answer was, "I don't know."

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Well my brothers and sisters, that picture that I painted, that depiction that we saw in that book by Dostoevsky just a few minutes ago, we think that that's a very graphic and a very terrible and a very terrifying picture. But do you know the dogs of this society are doing the same things to our children?

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They face worse situations than some of the things that children have had to face in the past. There's a very dismal report that has come out lately about the poverty level of children. being at an all-time high.

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One scholar has asked the very deep and almost unpenetrable question, he says, "Why is it that a child has to suffer? Why is it that children have to go through pain and sorrow when they haven't done anything pose a threat to this world.

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Well David was being pursued. His life was being threatened. And that is the very plight of our children today. But we see in this psalm that in the midst of David being almost overtaken by the very

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bloody hands of Saul, the one who seeks to take his life, he draws a very beautiful picture in the midst of all of his sorrow and all of his threatening circumstance. He says, "But I am like a green olive tree." the house of God. I will trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.

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Now on the onset, this seems somewhat of a curious picture. And it's curious in the way that we see the picture of a tree inside of a house. Now that is not an impossibility. And that is not something that is unheard of.

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But trees usually grow on the outside of the house. And here we see the picture of a tree on the inside of the house. We don't usually think of things that should be on the outside of the house being on the inside of the house.

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I had a friend of mine who's a mechanic and he really gets into his work. And I remember he was restoring a 1965 Mustang one time. And every time I would go by his house, he'd be outside and he'd always be doing something to the engine of that car.

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And he'd always be shining up parts. Well one day I went by his house one particular day and I went and I didn't see, I saw the body of his car but I didn't see the motor because I looked at you know I always had a habit of looking on the inside you know under the hood the motor

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wasn't there and I walked into the house and sure enough there was his car motor sitting in the middle of his living room and he was watching TV shining up on his carburetor and you know I thought I said now you know that seems kind of strange for this man to be bringing this thing in his house but you know he told

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He called me Swish. He said, "Swish, you know," he says, "you know, I get into my work so much, and I love this car so much, that I feel like I can give it better care on the inside of my house than I can on the outside."

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So I know you think it's strange, and I know my wife just left me this morning because she thought I was kind of funny about doing this, but the thing is, I felt like what I needed to do was to bring what I love and what I love to do my work on the inside so it can be around me all the time and I can take special care of it.

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And even though I thought that this was a strange picture for this man to be bringing something on the inside of his house, something that usually should be on the outside of his house, I could see the love and the care that he had for this piece of machinery, so much so that he wanted to bring it around him inside of his

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living dwelling place so he could take special care of it. Well that's somewhat of this curious picture that we see of this tree. For we see a tree growing on the outside of a house, but here David says, "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.

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I will trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. Special emphasis is drawn to the kind of tree that David describes himself to be. He describes himself to be a green olive tree. And the green olive tree was of special value to ancient Israel.

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It was a symbol of beauty and blessing. It was considered a unique gift from God himself. That was the olive tree in ancient Israel. And as I thought of this, Patches, I thought, you know, this is a very adequate picture,

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not only of what David thought of himself to be, this is a very adequate picture of our children today. For they are indeed symbols of beauty, strength, and blessing. They are indeed unique gifts from God himself.

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But as the olive tree can grow on the outside of the house, so can our children. As we see David, as he runs from Saul, we take note of the fact that David is a man that observes all things. And as I imagine he goes about this country running away and running for his life, he

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sees the growth of olive trees in the wild. And he takes special note that even though they can grow in the wild, somehow their growth is stunning. And the fruit is not as good as it could be.

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But then he goes to the house of Amalek the priest. And I can just imagine that he sees in this house, in this man's house, in this house of God, he sees a green olive tree in the midst of the priest's house, and he thinks, "This is my life!

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That in spite of all that is against me, in spite of all that may turn against me, in In spite of the danger that I may face, my life is like a green olive tree in the house of God. I know that my life, in my life, can be represented in the tree that grows on the outside, but

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somehow it doesn't seem like I can grow right until I am brought inside the house, inside the house where I'm taken special care of by God himself. Well this is a lovely picture of the life of David. But my brothers and sisters, this is something that we must take note and we must take to

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heart as much as we possibly can. Our children are as green olive trees. And it is possible for them to grow on the outside of the house. I think I've told you this story before, but I want to tell you again.

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There was some children that used to be making a lot of noise across from where my mother lives. That's when they had a bus stop up there. And they'd be up there rapping on this bus stop at two, three o'clock in the morning making all this noise and you know talking a whole lot of noise and saying a whole lot of abusive things. And here my mother and my father across the street

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trying to get some sleep. And it seemed that all the time that they wouldn't pick any kind of time any other time to do this other than during the time when my parents were trying to sleep. Well Well, my mother told me this time and time again. And you know, just one, it was one early morning,

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she called me and she said, it was about one o'clock in the morning, she said, Rodney, she says, "Well, they're starting up again."

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And it was just one morning I decided, I said, "I'm just gonna go over there." And I went over there and I parked across the street and sure enough, there must have been about 10 or 15 kids

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just standing around, hanging out, cussing, all this abusive language, making a whole bunch of noise, not doing anything particular, just hanging out.

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And the longer I sat there, the more perplexed, the more mad, and actually the more scared I got. Because God was telling me in my heart,

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I want you to go over there. And I thought to myself, I thought, no, no, maybe I just better just kind of like watch this from a distance. But the longer I sat there, the more God kept telling me, I want you, you, the one sitting

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in this little white car, I want you to go across the street and I want you to go over there and find out what's going on. I want you to go and talk to them. So my brothers and sisters, I prayed.

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I prayed like I've never prayed before. And somehow God just lifted me out of the car. And I walked over there with my own two legs. And I stood there in the midst of them.

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And they acted like at first, like I wasn't there. They just kept hollering and cussing and hitting on that bus stop and all this. And something came up in me and I just asked a question.

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I said, "Let me ask you all something. "Do you all realize that folk are trying to sleep?" And one young man said, "Excuse me?" I said, "People are trying to sleep."

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I said, "My mother and father's sitting "right across the street over here "and you all are making all this noise." And one young man got real belligerent

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and he said a few things to me. And then he stomped off. And I thought, well, maybe this was a bad idea. But do you know I stayed there?

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And about five or six of them gathered around me. And they said, now, who are you to be telling us what we should be doing? And you know, one thing led to another. And I'm not going to tell you the whole story, because it's quite a long story, because I

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stood there on that corner for about an hour and a half talking to these young folk. And there was one young man there that couldn't have been no more than 10 or 11 years old. And do you know that young man talked with intelligence? And he told me what he did for a living.

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And that's the first time I ever heard about the term. He told me he was a rock salesman. I don't think many of you all know what that is. I didn't know what it was either.

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Told me he was a rock salesman. And I said, "What is a rock salesman?" He says, "I sell crack." He said, "What did you call crack?

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That's what you call it, rock." And I thought, "Why are you wasting your life out here?" I said, "You've got a mind. You've got a lovely mind.

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You've got something to really use for the rest of your life to develop." I said, "Let me ask you something. Do you go to church?" And he said, "No."

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He said, "My parents tried to take me to church, but I didn't want to go." You know, my brothers and sisters, you see a picture here of an olive tree growing on the outside of the house.

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And see, trees, if they could think, they usually think, well, it's better for me to be on the outside of the house rather than on the inside.

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But trees don't know. The trees don't know what's good for them. That's just like this child. This child did not know what his life really meant.

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He need to be pulled on the inside of the house. He needed to be pulled on the inside of the house of God. He could grow on the outside, but his fruit was not developing the way it should have.

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He needed to be pulled on the inside of the house. So this Rock Salesman, I invited him to church. I gave him my name. I said, "My name is Rodney Swisher.

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I go to Ebenezer Baptist Church, and I want to see you there because we must have a burden in our hearts, my brothers and sisters.

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We must let the world know, and especially our unique gifts in this world, we must let them know that even though you can grow on the outside, you need to be a tree on the inside. You need to be a tree on the inside, the house of God.

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And even though this is Children's Day, and we must concentrate on our children, God has blessed us with the gift of children. But do you know Children's Day represents a day for all of us? For all of us are children of God.

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For those who have recognized that Jesus Christ is coming to our lives, we are all children of God. And one of the things that really concerns me, and we've talked about this before, the pastor and I, we have really talked about this.

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One of the things that really concerns me now and then, it's like when people join this church, especially young people. And somehow they grow up here for a while, but then they get this spiritual urge

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where they need to leave the house. And they figure it's better for them to grow on the outside of the house than grow on the inside of the house.

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That is our problem for today. Trees don't know. We need to let them know. It is better for you to grow on the inside

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to the house of God than instead on the outside because a whole lot of things out there that you can grow up and learn and know are not gonna help you when your heart is burdened

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with the cares and the burdens of this world. We must let this world know, the children know, the little children know, the big children know, the older children know that you must be in the house.

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You must be a tree, not outside of the house. In order for you to grow and develop, you must be a tree on the inside of the house. And we must let everyone know

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who claims to be a child of God, be a tree, stay in the house, grow in the house. Let them know that this is where you're supposed to be

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because this is where God can take special care of you. come on inside the household of faith, inside the house of God. It is better to be a tree on the inside

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of the dwelling place of the one who can take special care than to grow on the outside. Amen. - Let's all say amen.

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- Amen. We extend now the invitation for those who believe this report, who like to be like an olive tree in the house of God. We invite you to come.

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This is the invitation to come to accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, make your profession of faith in the presence of this assembly, You come by letter, by Christian experience,

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for restoration. You're invited to come. Doors open. ♪ Thou my help ♪

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♪ For a lasting portion ♪ ♪ More than bread ♪ ♪ A heart to feed ♪ ♪ All along ♪

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♪ My pilgrim journey ♪ ♪ Sacred and be whole ♪ ♪ With thee ♪ ♪ Close to thee ♪

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♪ Close to thee ♪ ♪ Close to thee ♪ ♪ Close to thee ♪ ♪ All along ♪

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♪ I will from journey ♪ ♪ Savior let ♪ ♪ Behold with me ♪ ♪ Not for ease ♪

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♪ A worldly pleasure ♪ ♪ Not for pain ♪ ♪ My purse shall be ♪ ♪ Gladly willed ♪

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♪ I toil and suffer ♪ ♪ Only let ♪ ♪ Me walk with Thee ♪ ♪ Close to Thee ♪

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♪ Close to Thee ♪ ♪ Close to Thee ♪ ♪ Close to Thee ♪ ♪ Gladly will ♪

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♪ Fight on and suffer ♪ ♪ Only let me walk with thee ♪ ♪ Lead me through the vale of shadows ♪ ♪ There we go, as they proceed ♪

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♪ In the gate of life eternal ♪ ♪ May I enter, Lord, with Thee ♪ ♪ Close to Thee, close to Thee ♪ ♪ Close to Thee, close to Thee ♪

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♪ In the gate of life eternal ♪ ♪ May I enter for with thee ♪ ♪ Lord with me ♪ [MUSIC]

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