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Thank you for the reality of Easter. We thank you dear Lord for going to the cross and saving us from our sins. But most of all, dear Lord, do we thank you for getting up on that third day that we're all raised up with thee. Thank you dear Lord for the joy of Easter. We thank you

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for the beauty of this new Easter morning. We ask that you may be with us as we worship thee in a special way. Lord is our prayer that you fill this house with your presence and our hearts with your joy as we lift your name in holy praise. Amen.

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[Music] Alas, if he had saved me, and did my suffering die, would he devote and save me for such a world as mine? At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light

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And the burdens of my heart rolled away It was there by faith I received my sight And now I am happy all the day Was it for Christ that I had died He had grown upon the tree

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Amazing pity, grace and love And love beyond degree At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light And the burdens of my heart rolled away, rolled away It was there by faith I received my sight

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And now I am happy all the day Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut his glory's day, when Christ the mighty Maker died, for man the preacher said. At the cross, at the cross, where I heard song and light, and the verdict of my heart rolled away, it was there by faith I did see my sight, and now I am happy all the day.

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But cross will free and never be The death of love I owe Dear Lord, I give myself away 'Tis all that I can do At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burdens of my heart rolled away. It was then I faith, I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day.

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Standing in the need of prayer. It's me, it's me, oh Lord. Standing in the need of prayer. It's me, it's me, oh Lord.

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Standing in the need of prayer. It's me, it's me, oh Lord. Standing in the need of prayer Not my mother, not my father, but it's me, oh Lord

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Standing in the need of prayer Not my mother, not my father, but it's me, oh Lord Standing in the need of prayer It's me, it's me, oh Lord

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standing in the need of prayer. It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. Most gracious Lord and God of all,

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hear our prayer this morning. We praise your name and trust you above all we know in this world. And we thank you because you have chosen to dwell within us. To lead us to new wisdom and everlasting truth.

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You are the source of our life and we come to you asking for your goodness and mercy to be poured out upon us. Oh God, there are those among us who need to know your power in our lives. Some are sick. Some are suffering through trials and tribulations of which we are not aware. Some are bereaved. Lord, we pray for healing and understanding. We pray for those of us who continue to stumble and fall.

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We praise your name that we can struggle back to our feet and start again because you give us forgiveness for all of our shortcomings. Don't let us forget that your love is perfect even when we are not. Lord in our humanness we sometimes are not faithful in our discipleship and sometimes we give in to sin but then we remember that you died for those very sins.

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And then on the third day, you arose with all power in your hands and ascended into heaven where you now rule as one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. So Lord, help us keep working on our faith.

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For we know, Lord, that our faith is not in circumstances, but in you. And for this we are truly grateful. Grateful that because of your loving sacrifice for our sins, you allow us to see through eyes of hope. Almighty God, we pray for this world to come to a peaceful understanding of what it takes to live together in harmony.

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Bless our nation to take the appropriate stand on national and international matters. You alone, O Lord, are the way. You're the way the truth and the life Renew our Christian hope that your power will sustain us as a people

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Let our search for what is right begin and end with the righteousness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Only then can we who are so weak truly say we are strong. Yes The Holy Master blessed this church to worship you in spirit and truth Keep the light of Christ shining on our pastor, his wife, the leaders of our church,

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and on every member who professes to be born again of the blood of Christ. Let our lives continue to be renewed and our joy may complete as we recall the good news of the gospel. Help us to remember that Jesus Christ will show us all things if we remain humble. Hold Ebeneezer close to your heart that we may expect great things in the name of the Lord as we witness to a world

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That is lost in sin And oh Lord, thank you for the perfect love that sent your son to save our souls. Yeah May we grow in the power of new life through Jesus Christ? one with God in the Holy Spirit and

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In whose name we pray Amen [Music] ♪ Behold the Lamb ♪

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♪ Behold the Lamb ♪ ♪ Spread from on this throne of the world ♪ ♪ Most with us crucified ♪ ♪ O holy sacrifice ♪

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♪ Behold the Lamb who died ♪ ♪ Behold the Lamb ♪ ♪ Come in, come in ♪ ♪ Come, come, come again ♪

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♪ Worthy is the Lamb ♪ ♪ Praise, praise Him, praise Him ♪ ♪ Praise, praise Him, praise Him ♪ ♪ And thy name resound ♪

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♪ Behold the Lamb ♪ ♪ Behold the Lamb ♪ ♪ Spread from the foundation ♪ ♪ Of the world ♪

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♪ For sinners cruelly ♪ ♪ By truth defied ♪ ♪ O holy sacrifice ♪ ♪ Sacrifice ♪

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♪ Behold the Lamb ♪ ♪ The Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Behold the Lamb ♪ [ Music ]

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[music] [MUSIC] [Music] Sing of him who reigneth

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And heaven and earth bless the King Through all eternity [Music] ♪ We hold the land of the free ♪

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♪ We hold the land ♪ ♪ Of the free ♪ [Music] My good Lord, it done been here, bless my soul and gone away.

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You may not sing like angels, you may not preach like Paul, but you can tell the whole world he's here to save us all. He died on Calvary, Calvary, to save us all from sin. The same way that he's gone away, he's coming back again. ♪ God, my Lord, he done been here ♪ ♪ Bless my soul and gone away ♪

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♪ My good Lord, he done been here ♪ ♪ God bless my soul and gone ♪ ♪ My good Lord, he done been here ♪ ♪ Bless my soul and gone away ♪

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♪ My good Lord, he done been here ♪ ♪ God bless my soul and gone ♪ ♪ Bless my soul ♪ He touched my heart and made me whole. He blessed my soul.

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And then one day he took control. Gone away, gone away, gone away, gone away. Made me whole. Built a drug that blessed my soul and all. He blessed my soul. He touched my heart and made me whole. He blessed my soul.

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And then one day he took control. He's gone away, gone away, gone away, gone away. He made me whole. He took control and blessed my soul and vowed. He blessed my soul, blessed my soul and took me home. He blessed my soul and did one day he'd make me whole. He'd gone away, gone away, gone away, gone away, he'd make me whole. Now he blessed my truth and blessed my soul and gone, he blessed my soul and gone, he blessed my soul and gone, he blessed my soul and gone.

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There is a passage of Scripture recorded in the Gospel according to Saint Luke. The 27th chapter, 31st through the 32nd verses, reads, "When they had finished mocking him, They stripped off his cloak and dressed him in his own clothes. Then they led him away to be crucified.

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On their way out, they met a man from Cyrene, Simon by name, and pressed him into service to carry his cross. The subject is carrying his cross. The cross was the Roman government's way of punishing criminals.

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It was the death penalty carried out by crucifixion. we carry out the death penalty by the electric chair or some lethal injection, death comes quickly. The entire process is over in a matter of minutes. But such was not the case in Jesus' day. Death by crucifixion took hours and sometimes days.

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The criminal was compelled to carry his cross to the place of execution. Jesus stumbled and fell beneath the heavy weight of the cross. A man from serene North Africa was compelled to carry the cross of Jesus. He was a bystander.

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Suddenly he hears the voice of a Roman soldier saying, "Come here boy, and carry his cross." Possibly Simon had come to Jerusalem to participate in the Passover festival. He has no idea of becoming involved in carrying the cross of Jesus, but it is said they compel him to carry the cross of Jesus.

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He was not free to choose, it was forced upon him. The cross is a construction of two pieces of wood intersecting one another, one horizontal, the other vertical. is not smooth, it's rough. It's not designed to be comfortable but miserable. It's not

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designed to bring delight, rather it is to bring unhappiness. Simon of Cyrene, he does not select his cross. It is thrust upon him by the circumstances of his existence. He just happened to be, at what some would say, at the wrong place at the right time. He is the victim of the jest of Roman soldiers, he is compelled to carry the cross of Jesus.

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The language of the text says that Simon was from North Africa, and some have surmised that he was black because he was from Africa, and they have portrayed him as a negro. Mark says that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus, which suggests that they were respected members of the Christian community.

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What does it mean to carry your cross, my cross? The cross is a symbol of contradiction forced upon us. God's way, humanity's way. "Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me."

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Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. That's the cross. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says that it's the price we pay for being Christian. We like to think of the cross as a beautiful emblem of gold on the altar between two candlesticks. But the picture of the cross in human history is a construction of rough pieces of wood with nails and blood.

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It's a cruel and painful way to die. After being beaten unmercifully, after being subjected to ridicule and insult, Jesus is forced to carry his cross. Jesus, the Son of God, carrying a cross.

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That's not the picture we want to see. God carrying a cross. We like to think of Him as being on a throne, ruling everything with His power. We'd like to have a picture of Him in that way, decorated with diadems.

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But before wearing a crown, we must bear the cross. Jesus said, "If any person would come after me and let him take up the cross, his cross, her cross, and follow me." So to follow Jesus is to follow in the way of the cross.

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That is the cost of Christian discipleship. Each pilgrim must pay the price. So the cross is the way of God's choosing, not our preferences. Simon came to the feast to enjoy himself, and found himself carrying a cross on his

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shoulder. He's compelled to bear the cross of Jesus. And so we say, "Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free?" And the answer comes, "No, there's a cross for everyone!"

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And there's a cross for me. Once there was a woman who was guilty of continually complaining about her cross. She felt that she was mistreated by the cross that she had to bear. She thought it was too heavy and that others that she knew had crosses that were more to

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to their liking. But one night she had a dream and she saw crosses of various shapes and sizes. And she tried on one that looked so beautiful. It was decorated with roses, but underneath those roses there were thorns that pierced her flesh. And she picked up another cross and it looked rather attractive.

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It was heavy, it was made of iron and it was too heavy for her. And so she put it down and she picked up several others. And then finally she picked up one that was just right. And she looked at it closely and discovered that it was the cross that she had been wearing all the time.

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So it is so arranged that all of us have a cross. By the circumstances of our existence we have a cross to bear. not somebody else's cross but each one of us has his or her own cross

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so wear your cross bear it, wear your cross that's sort of popular in our day we like to have a necklace or some emblem around and I see many of our brethren who

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who wear the cross, beautiful cross, but they don't bear the cross. So we're called upon to bear the cross. So Christianity is not a religion of ease and worldly pleasure. It is the religion of the cross.

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Cross, cross, no escape from the cross. That's the cost, no escape from it. I remember a number of years ago when I was serving on the school board here in Austin, But I got a call about two o'clock in the morning, and there was an irate person by the end of the phone.

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I said, "I'm not going to apologize for calling you this time of the night. You asked for this job, you got it." [laughter] He crossed.

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[laughter] Cross, cross. So some crosses we ask for, and there are some crosses that are just thrust upon us and we are compelled to wear them.

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The cross is the symbol for the oppressed, those who are oppressed. that all of us have to deal with some oppression in this life. The cross is for blasphemers. All of us find ourselves doing that which is insulting to God.

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The cross is for the defenseless. The cross is for the rejected. The cross is for those who suffer abandonment. The cross, the cross.

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How long must we bear the cross? Simon of Cyrene just shows up in Jerusalem, planning to go and observe, participate in what's happening, but he finds himself bearing a cross. Alex Haley tells in his book Roots a story that describes our experience. Young African decides to take a stroll in the moonlight in Africa, Kutikete,

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and wakes up later on a slave ship in chains bound for America, a type of bondage that lasts for some 250 years. How much time must we spend on the cross? And all of us ask this question over and over again as we bear the cross, "Lord, how long? How long will this last?" Sometimes it's the cross of sickness, some physical ailment, sometimes it's the cross

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of family life, of frustration, of disappointment, of defeat, of being without employment, or some other mishap in life but a cross. He bears the cross of Jesus, Simon does. And we sing the consecrated cross I'll bear. The consecrated cross, not some we create by our misdemeanors, But the consecrated cross I'll bear till death shall set me free, and then go home my crown

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to wear, for there's the crown." Now listen to those words, you don't get the crown until you bear the cross. bearing of the cross comes before we wear the crown. So that's our challenge.

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Jesus and Simon, the story doesn't tell us whether they ever met or not, but he bears the cross of Jesus. That's our task as we celebrate his resurrection because our victory is in bearing the cross. Not admiring that emblem which is between two candlesticks as I said, but to have that

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divine compulsion in the midst of the contradictions of life. Oh yes, all of us have contradictions. They contradict our happiness, they contradict our goals, and yet somehow to bear them and to triumph in doing so, We can exemplify the triumph of God's grace. Cross, cross. We sing the old rugged cross.

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Emblem of suffering and shame. And if we really understand that, we won't get so disturbed. You know, some people leave the church because somebody says something they don't like. To bear the cross is to suffer insults. To bear the cross is to be mistreated. To bear the cross is to be oppressed. That's the cross.

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We can't make it into heaven without the cross. God wrapped himself in human flesh and came and dwelt among us so that we could know the way. We can embrace Him, embrace the attitude of the Master. That's the journey, and all of us, praise God, are on this journey.

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And so thank God. Thank God for the cross! Well, I know, I know sometimes it becomes heavy. I've seen y'all know too much to bear, but thank God!

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Yes, praise God! For the cross, for in the cross is our victory. And someday, someday, in a world beyond this wrath and tears, we shall be with Him and celebrate His goodness and His grace in bearing His cross.

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So that's why we come to celebrate this Easter. The fact that this God that the Romans thought they had put away forever that this God is alive, He's with us, He strengthens us, He comforts us, He heals us, this God So he lives as we sing that hymn.

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I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know that he is living, whatever men may say. We invite you to come, unite with the family of God here at Ebenezer

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and witness here publicly that you're willing to bear the cross. Come. By letter, by Christian experience, on professional faith. [Music]

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I serve a little Savior, He's in the world today. I know that He is living, whatever men may say. I hear His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, And just the time I need Him is always near.

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He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along my narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives.

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He lives within my heart. In all the world around me, I see His loving care. And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair. I know that He is leading through all the stormy past.

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The day of His appearing will call that past. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me about what's ever away. He lives, He lives, He lives, salvation to Him for.

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He'll ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. Rejoice, rejoice, O Christians, lift up your voice and sing, Eternal Hallelujah to Jesus Christ the King! The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who cry, none other is so loving, so good and kind.

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He lives, He lives, like Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me, along that narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.

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God has blessed our souls. And now is our time of prayer together. Let us bow. Almighty God, Giver of all things,

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we praise your name this morning for your goodness to us. Thank you that we are able to come before the throne, the throne of grace. as children of the King, that we may glorify your name as Savior and Redeemer.

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Lord, we want to serve you purely and honestly, and let the Holy Spirit breathe on us this morning that we humbly may bow in your almighty presence. A God of power and might, we know you hear us as we pray for your ever-present help and counsel. And we surrender our prayers to you, concerns for ourselves and for others,

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trusting your love and goodness to work healing in our lives. Calm our souls that we may draw closer to you and to one another. to teach each of us how to be a friend to the weak and how to welcome those whom this world would cast out. Show us, Lord, how to mend broken relationships.

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Give us the courage to meet the needs of others, the means to feed those who are starving for mercy, and the compassion to comfort those who suffer. Lord, we do not always honor you in what we do and say.

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We are guilty of being all too human. And yet we know that you have delivered us from sin to become your children. And therefore we offer ourselves to you for cleansing. Thank you for your gracious gift of salvation.

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Renew our hearts that we may receive the fullness of your grace and live in the truth of Christ our Lord. And bless us as believers, O God, to be a light unto the world as you have been for us. And bless us as a nation to seek your will for this country and its future.

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And Master, we pray for the well-being of other nations. And let us not be afraid to speak hope to a confused and desperate world. And let us not be silent because you have given us so much truth to share. empower us to serve you as a living Lord, that we may be worthy of discipleship, that

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we may be worthy of the hope that is in Jesus Christ our Savior. Oh Lord, we thank you for the leadership of this church, for those who serve quietly and unselfishly and we rejoice in the dedication of our pastor and his wife who continue to stand by us and with us on this Christian journey. Knowing that all power

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comes from on high. Grant them courage to keep on standing, resting firm in the conviction that you supply all they need to lead this flock. Lord bless Ebenezer to be united in fellowship and love. Holy Master you have mercifully redeemed us through what you suffered at Calvary. Now you are risen and risen with all power in

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your hands. Glory, praise, and honor are yours. Humbly we pray in your name. Amen. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] ♪♪

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♪♪ [MUSIC] [MUSIC] ♪ He is risen from the dead ♪

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♪ He is home ♪ ♪ Every knee shall bow ♪ ♪ Every tongue confess ♪ ♪ That Jesus Christ is born ♪

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♪ He is born, he is born ♪ ♪ He is risen from the dead ♪ ♪ He is born ♪ ♪ Every knee shall bow ♪

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♪ Every tongue confess ♪ ♪ And praise ♪ ♪ That Jesus Christ is Lord ♪ ♪ He is Lord ♪

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♪ He is risen from the dead ♪ [choir singing] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]

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