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Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and abondishing one another in psalms, in hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. [All] Praise the Lord, and great is to be praised, and His greatness is uncertain.

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[Music] It's a hard day today, nothing but the day, but the fear and awe. It's a hard day today, I am walking up the deep side way. It's a highway to heaven,

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Not before the day of the miracle. It's a highway to heaven, I am hoping up the beach highway. It's a highway to heaven,

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Let us pray. Heavenly Father, with grateful hearts we come, thanking you for another chance to give praise to thy holy name, and as we come we ask for guidance in all that we do. As we celebrate our 36th annual Woman's Day observance, make us truly

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aware of our role to go tell, not only to the Ebenezer family and the Austin community, but to all wherever we may be. Give us strength sufficient for the day, that we may bear the burdens of tomorrow. Empty us of self and sin, and take full possession of our lives. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger, clamor and evil speaking be put

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away. Fill our hearts with love, one for the other. Make our weaknesses strong and our darknesses bright. And to Lord, the little words which we meet each day are stumbling rocks, turn them into stepping stones, to be of grace, we pray, Amen. Amen.

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Amen. [ Music ] [music] [Music]

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♪ Falling to ground ♪ ♪ But you are he ♪ ♪ 'Cause the people are free ♪ ♪ There's wonder in the world ♪

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♪ In the world ♪ ♪ There's wonder ♪ ♪ Wonder where it comes ♪ ♪ In the world ♪

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♪ In the world ♪ ♪ There's wonder ♪ ♪ Wonder where it comes ♪ ♪ Is depression all over the land ♪

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♪ Will you be free from depression tonight ♪ ♪ And hide in the sun, hide in the sun ♪ ♪ The heart of wisdom never will die ♪ ♪ And hide in the sun, hide in the sun ♪

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♪ There is power, power ♪ ♪ In the world we're working for ♪ ♪ In the good ♪ ♪ Of the land ♪

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♪ There is power, power ♪ ♪ In the world we're working for ♪ ♪ In the good ♪ ♪ In the good ♪

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♪ Of the land ♪ ♪ There is power, power ♪ ♪ In the world we're working for ♪ ♪ In the good ♪

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May we bow our heads in prayer. Dear Lord, our Heavenly Father, it is once more we gather in the house to worship. Dear Lord we are so grateful that you have given us an opportunity to witness another Sabbath day and dear Lord as we come today to observe our 36th Mormon anniversary we ask you to guide us, show us the right

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way to go and let us know that we are your children dear Lord because without Without you we could do nothing. You have made us Christians and we want to follow you. We want to give ourselves to you totally, dear Lord.

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And dear Lord, as I stand here this morning, I ask you to guide our church members. We ask you to throw your arms for protection around them. And oh Lord, don't forget our sick members. We know that they need you.

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know that they need you to guide them each day and each hour of the day and each minute dear Lord and oh Lord we ask you to guide our minister and his family because he is our leader and we do want to follow him in the right way and do the things that is right for us to do and as he come to us this morning open

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our ears to hear him dear Lord and whatever is said dear Lord let us take that and let us live the way that he want us to live and when we've done all that we can do and we can't do anymore would you leave us in the world without an end this I pray amen. Amen.

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[ Pause ] [ Music ] [Music] [ Music ]

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[MUSIC] ♪ Legend my savior ♪ ♪ In sorrows I see ♪ ♪ Heroes grow ♪

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♪ Forever I watch ♪ ♪ God and hope ♪ ♪ He will save ♪ ♪ He will wear ♪

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♪ He will wear ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪ ♪ For your Satan shall die ♪ ♪ Oh, fire should come ♪

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♪ And this bless the surest control ♪ ♪ That Christ has reigned ♪ ♪ And all things have reigned ♪ ♪ When my share is all gone for my soul ♪

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♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ If he dwells, if he dwells with my soul ♪ ♪ I see the burning of his glorious love ♪ ♪ My spirit is not in war but the Lord ♪

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♪ He's real to the core ♪ ♪ And the name is the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, O my soul ♪

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♪ And Lord, let the day ♪ ♪ When the rain shall be gone ♪ ♪ The rock we hold fast as a stronghold ♪ ♪ The job shall be done ♪

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♪ And the Lord shall be saved ♪ ♪ Even so ♪ ♪ It is well ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪

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♪ It is well ♪ ♪ It is well ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪

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♪ It is well ♪ ♪ It is well ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪ ♪ It is well ♪

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♪ It is well ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪ [Music] [ Music ]

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Responsive reading will be found in the back of your hymnals number 563 world missions May we stand? [ Music ] [choir singing]

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♪ Give me my worthy children ♪ ♪ I am thy God ♪ ♪ Blessed are they who walk ♪ ♪ In the word of the Lord ♪

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[choir singing] Arise shine for the light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee and the Gentiles should come to thy light and the Kings to the brightness of thy rising.

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Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee.

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The forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. (crowd reciting) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

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And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (crowd reciting)

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who said I would leave him, and I will not be ashamed. I will keep my word in my heart, ♪ Gave me down in my heart ♪ - For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.

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For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. - [Congregation] For those that call upon him, the Lord shall be saved.

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How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? [INAUDIBLE]

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. And a light unto my path.

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[MUSIC] Good morning. We have a new storyteller this morning. Our story today was taken from the Old Testament.

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It's one that I think that you will learn from. I want you to listen, and I want you to be sure, and tell me when I'm through one thing that I have told you. All right?

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Come a little closer in. Once there were two ladies, and they lived together. And these ladies had young babies, both of them. They lived in the same house, and both of them

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had these young babies. Once during the night, one night, something happened to one of these babies, and it died. And the mother found it dead before morning.

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So she got up, and she tiptoed into the other lady's room and put her dead baby by this woman and took her live baby back to her room. And on the morning, everybody was

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upset because one baby was dead. And the mother that had the baby that was really alive said, "I don't believe this is my baby." "Oh, yes it is. Yes it is. I have my baby right here beside me. I know that's your baby." "No, this baby doesn't look quite like mine." And so they pick it back and forth. Well, they had a very, very wise king. This king was

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was named King Solomon. And finally, they decided, we will take this matter to the king and let him decide for us which of these babies is the right mother's child.

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So the two of them took this one live baby to the king, and they told the story about both of them having babies and one of them waking up and finding the other one dead, and so on and so on.

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So the king looked at them, and he said, now, this is difficult. Hmm. Let me see. Oh, I know what I'll do.

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And so he said to one of his servants, get my sword for me, and hand me that child. One mother looked very surprised. the other mother just sort of looked.

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Hand me that child. And he took the child up by the heel. And he says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take this sword, and I'm

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going to cut this child in half. I'm going to give one half to one mother, and one half to the other mother. And one mother said, oh, King, King, live forever.

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You are so wise. That is exactly what you should do. The other mother said, oh, King, don't, please. Don't do that.

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Don't do that. Give the child to her. Don't kill it. Give the child to her.

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And so he took this little child and he handed it to the mother that he said, give it, because he knew that she was the real mother. And she fell down on her knees and she said, oh, King,

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what do I owe you? how can I ever pay you for being so wise and having all of this knowledge that you could know that this was my child?

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And he said, you don't owe me anything. God has given me this wisdom. And because he has given me this wisdom, I can make this decision for you.

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I want you to do nothing but go tell it. Go tell it. Tell it to others. Now, what is the basis of our theme today?

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Remember, our whole theme is on what? Women go tell. Women, say that. Women go tell.

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All right, and King Solomon told the women to do what? Go tell it. Go tell of God's wisdom. Through him, he had made the right decision.

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Let us bow our heads. Dear God, help us that as we grow up, that we will always be able to know where to go if we are not able to make our right decisions.

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We pray in Jesus' name, amen. (upbeat piano music) [Music] [Music]

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(upbeat piano music) [ Music ] The Holy Spirit starts to move within my soul. It starts a fire burning that I just cannot control.

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It starts by me just shouting. It puts planning all in my head. It makes my eyes start crying Tears I just don't understand

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Rivers of joy flooding my soul Rivers of joy I cannot control Rivers of joy make me so happy. I cannot explain these rivers of joy.

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♪ When the Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Starts to move ♪ ♪ Within my soul ♪ ♪ It starts ♪

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A fire burning That I just Cannot control His heart

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Thriving to shouting It looks like me, holding my head. It makes my eyes start crying if I just don't understand. [Music]

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[Music] Rivers of joy, I cannot control. Rivers of joy, make me so happy. I cannot explain these rivers of joy.

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Rivers of joy, flooding my soul. Rivers of joy, I cannot control. Rivers of joy, they feel so happy. I cannot explain, I cannot explain, I cannot explain, these rivers of joy.

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Amen. Amen. [ Background noise ] >> This is our period of dedication of tithes and offering. [Music]

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You may build great cathedrals, large and small. You can build skyscrapers grand and tall. You may conquer all the failures of the past. But only what you do for Christ shall last.

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Remember only what you do for Christ will last. Remember only what you do for Christ will last. Only one, your darling Will be counted at the end

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Only one, your darling Christ Will last [music] You may seek earthly pleasure, unfaith.

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[music] ♪ The world might be impressed by name ♪ ♪ (soft music) Soon the glory of this life will be past.

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But only what you do for Christ will last. Remember what you do, for Christ will last. Remember only what you do for Christ will be. Only what you do for him

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Will be counted as the end ♪ Only what you do ♪ ♪ For Christ will ♪ ♪ Will last ♪

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♪ Remember only ♪ ♪ Only what you do ♪ ♪ The Christ will last ♪ ♪ Remember only what you do ♪

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♪ Your heart will burn ♪ ♪ Only what you do for him ♪ ♪ Will be counted on the ebb ♪ ♪ Only one ♪

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♪ You don't buy ♪ ♪ Will ♪ ♪ Will last ♪ - Our scripture lesson this morning

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is taken from the 16th chapter of Mark, verses one through eight. And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Solomon,

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had brought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the celibacus at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, who

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shall roll us away the stone from the door of the celibacus? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering into the celibacus, they

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saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment. And they were affrighted. And he said unto them, be not affrighted,

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Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter

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that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, as he said unto you. And they went out quickly and fled from the celibacy, for they trembled and were amazed.

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Neither sent they anything to any man, for they were afraid. - We stand and sing hymn 85. Must Jesus bear the cross alone.

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(gentle music) [Music] ♪ But Jesus bears the cross alone ♪ ♪ And all the world, though free ♪

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♪ Known as the cross for everyone ♪ [Choral singing] [President Black] Amen. I'm sure you could see that it was difficult for me to sit there.

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So the ladies have had a muzzle on me, in particular my wife here. I thought of that scripture, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox." [laughter] And then I was reminded as I saw all of these ladies and how the men are used to listening and doing what the ladies say.

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And when I was in college, I accused Dean Banks, who was my history professor, of being henpecked in class one day. I said, "Dean, you are just henpecked." And this is what he said. He said, "Now Marvin, you'll be henpecked too and like it when the right hen pecks you."

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[laughter] So, so that's the way we are as far as the ladies are concerned, but we are certainly delighted to have all of you here and particularly our guests with the sorority here on this special day of

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worshipping together and to have Sister Zelma George, Dr. George, to be sharing with us in the service along with all of you is a delightful privilege. Her work is well known. Last time I saw her, Dr. George was in a civil rights conference in New York, in Washington we were together there, and not only that but an

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outstanding church person. I want to invite our prayerful attention to a passage of Scripture which is recorded in the Gospel according to Mark, the 15th chapter, the 40th and 41st verses. It is related to the cross. Jesus has just cried out with the Lord loud voice and given up the ghost. And the 40th verse

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says, "There were also women looking on afar off among whom was Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, the less and of Joseph and Salome who also when he was in Galilee followed him and ministered unto him and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem." And then in the next chapter, the 16th chapter, where the women are at the tomb,

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the fifth through the seventh verses says, "And entering into the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a long white garment and they were afraid. And he said unto them be not afraid ye seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen he is not here behold the place where they laid him but go your way tell his

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disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee there shall ye see him as he said unto you. The subject of the message last at the cross and first at the tomb last at the cross and first at the tomb. Women have played a prominent part in witnessing to the Christian faith. From the beginning until now, there were those who wonder about the influence about of the women

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in the church, the influence of the feminine mystique in our churches, and questions have been raised as to why women seem to be more faithful than men in the functioning of the institutional church. But this is not something that developed in modern times, not something that came to pass just a few years ago it's been that way since the beginning

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it's been true since the days of our Lord there were certain women who followed Jesus. Luke tells us about it in his gospel when he says that Jesus went throughout every city and village preaching and sharing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the twelve were with him and certain women who had

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been healed of evil spirits and infirmities Mary called Magdalene out of whom went seven devils and Joanna the wife of Juza, Herod's steward and Susanna and many others who ministered unto him out of their substance. They were faithful and they gave of their substance in the furtherance of the ministry of our Lord. They gave what they

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had. So it's not surprising that the most precious gift Jesus received recorded in the Bible was that of a woman who brought a valuable bottle of perfume, opened it and poured it upon the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. There were those who criticized her thoughtfulness and her liberality but

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Jesus complimented her and said leave her alone. Her gracious act is a testimony of her love and commitment. So these women followed Jesus all during his ministry from the beginning until the end. We are a great deal about the Twelve Disciples, they were all men. And of course men like to boast of their

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strength, they like to boast of their bravery, their determination, their spirit to dare and do, to exhibit courageous action. But as we observe the Twelve disciples, we notice that they promised to remain with Jesus through the thick of the battle, but when we hear Thomas saying to the disciples when Jesus has

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made the decision to go to Jerusalem on the last journey to Jerusalem, they recognized that it was a very dangerous venture. It is Thomas, a disciple from whom we do not hear very much, but he speaks on this occasion saying, "Let us go and die with him." And of course when the battle became difficult and the night

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very dark. It is Judas, the secretary of the treasury, who was a close member of the band, in fact he was in the official cabinet, who betrays Jesus in the time of trial. It is Simon Peter, spokesman for the apostolic band, who had said earlier that he was willing to fight and he had demonstrated his willingness to fight because when the officers

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came to arrest him he took out his sword and cut off the ear of one of the officers. But as the trial went on in that final hour Peter thrice denies his Lord. And then all of the others become fearful, they forsake him, they run away. But here during the last hours we see a band of women standing by the cross

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exhibiting faithfulness in the last hour. And this requires a certain kind of dedication. In fact they have a romance with Jesus. And when we think about women we think a great deal about romance and that ought to be. One brother was asked in his examination about whether or not he was a Christian and he said oh yes I

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know I'm a Christian. He said well how do you know you're a Christian? He said because I love the brothers and another brother said well what about the sisters? He said "Well I loved the brothers now, I loved the brothers since I passed from death into life." "But I loved the sisters before I passed." So that we think about a

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romance with Jesus here, they carried on a romance with him. It's not the kind of romance which is written about in modern novels and displayed in stage and on the screen. We have a lot of movie versions of the life of Jesus and some of the more recent movies have tried to develop and to play up that Jesus had a romance with Mary Magdalene. And then more recently,

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just this past week, there was in the news that the British were thinking of making a movie in which they were going to display Jesus as a homosexual. We've had a great deal of this kind of thing that has come up in recent times. But the kind of romance that I'm talking about today cannot be described in the language of Hollywood. It cannot

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be displayed on stage and screen. It's a kind of romance with reality. It is a romance of the now with the eternal. It's the kind of romance in which the now and the eternal come together and produce the eternal now. It's the romance of truth and mercy joined together. It's a romance of righteousness and peace who kiss each other. That's what I call a romance with

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reality. Ensure these women of yesterday set the kind of example which is being followed by courageous Christian women today. They then, as women do today, had their domestic duties which they performed but they had duties that were outside that and beyond that and they perform both their duties in relationship

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to the home as well as in the community. They did them with diligence. They had their social obligations to which they were committed but above and beyond these they had a romance with Jesus. You know some romances have a good beginning and then they turned sour in the course of time but they followed

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Jesus to the last. They remained with Jesus while he suffered on the cross. Oh we sing that hymn, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they nailed him

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to the tree. Were you there when they pierced him in the side? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, "Tremble, tremble, were you there when they crucified my Lord?" It's rather easy sometimes to be fateful when things are going well.

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It's rather easy to follow along with any cause when it's very popular, when we are traveling on a road where there aren't any bumps. But what really happens when the way gets hard, when the trials come, when the temptations crowd in upon us and when we find ourselves being besieged by troubles, what really happens?

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And that's really what is set forth for us here is is it here is a band of women who are faithful in the last hour. They are gathered around the cross and they stand there. The Roman soldiers are there with their weapons and they listen to the cursing and they see the awful expressions of torture that are taking

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place and they stand afar off but they're still there. The men, the faithful group of disciples, the twelve, have run away, but they stand there. And so they have a romance with the cross. And you women of today have a great heritage which you carry on, torch which is yours to carry from one generation to the

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other it's that that has to do with the romance that involves the cross. The way is dark, the Sun and the stars are not shining, they are standing around the cross, they have a romance with the cross. There are many problems that we confront as a people much that we yet have to do in in every dimension of life

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and yet when we find ourselves fulfilling that commitment there is a cross that is involved. There's a cross, a cross in our family life, the very way by which we come into the world, birth with all of its pain, is a cross that you carry. It's a cross to live and to confront all of the vicissitudes of life. It's to carry the

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cross. It's to have that cross that is at the very heart of life. It's to accept it and to somehow deal with it in a triumphant way. They stood by the cross until the last. I had a person to call me the other day and this person was in a leadership position and it was a stand that this person was supposed to take but the person didn't want to take it

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they wanted me to take it. So now Reverend say you know this situation over here and I don't want the people to know how I really feel about it but I want you to go out and speak out against it. And so often we find people in the midst of the struggles we want someone to talk about it but we don't want to

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carry our cross. We want someone else to carry that cross and someone else to get the criticism, someone else to endure the misunderstanding, somebody else to take the blame. But there is a cross for everyone, everyone, and there's a cross for you. There's one for me, there's one for you, and it's ours to carry the cross.

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And I admire these women who are somehow gathered around the cross, carrying on a romance with a cross. With all of the suffering, with all of the indignities that we have suffered as black women and as black people and being relegated off to the periphery of society and yet somehow there have been those courageous souls

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who have carried on a romance with the cross. Cross, cross. An emblem of suffering and shame, the cross, the cross, a symbol of torture, yes, the cross, the cross. Being despised and rejected and persecuted, yes, all of that and in spite of it to carry own a romance with the cross. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the

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light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day. Romance with the cross. They're the last at the cross and you see it's at the cross where grace conquers sin, where the spirit of acceptance where one may be rejected and yet it's at the cross where

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there is the spirit of acceptance that overcomes that rejection. That happens at the cross. It's at the cross where love conquers hate. At the cross. It's at the cross! At the cross where there are cries of agony heard and yet it's at the cross. [ Silence ]