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[ Silence ] [singing] ♪ We now bid you farewell ♪ ♪ Farewell ♪

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♪ Farewell ♪ ♪ My people, go ♪ ♪ No more shall they in bondage toil ♪ ♪ Let my people go ♪

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♪ Let them come out with Egypt's spoils ♪ ♪ Let my people go ♪ ♪ Go now, O Jews ♪ ♪ In the winter night ♪

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♪ Tell all ♪ ♪ Tell all ♪ ♪ That my people ♪ [Prayer]

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I ask your prayerful attention to the passage of Scripture in the Gospel according to St. Mark, the first chapter, the 27th verse. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What thing is this? What new doctrine is this?

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"For with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, "and they do obey him." The subject of the message, divine disclosure. What thing is this?

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What new doctrine is this? "For with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, obey him. The gospel according to Mark has the singular distinction of portraying Jesus in a way that his Messiahship is a secret.

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So it is interesting to watch the concealing of the identity of Jesus as well as the revealing of his identity. It is a messianic secret that we have portrayed in this gospel. So in the beginning of his gospel, Mark reports that Jesus healed many that were sick of diverse

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diseases and cast out many devils and suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him. That's interesting that he suffers not the devils to speak because they knew him. And in the message which we considered last Sunday, when Jesus healed the demonic, those

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who witnessed the miracle said among themselves, "Who is this? What new doctrine is this?" There seems to be some uncertainty as to who Jesus is. It appears from Mark's point of view

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that Jesus himself wants to keep secret who he is. So we may ask why, why is it that the master does not want to reveal his identity at this time. Well, people react in various ways

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when they know who you are as well as when they don't know who you are. I remember when I was serving as chairman of the Board of Regents

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at Texas Southern University in Houston, that I would go about from time to time in the campus and various places and not tell them who I was, just go.

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And many times when I went just as an average citizen who happened to drop by and they didn't know who I was, I got one kind of reception or no reception at all. But the moment someone presented me as the chairman,

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Oh, they want to go back and shake hands again many times when they find out. So when people know who you are and when they donít know who you are, there is a certain kind of reception. So God�s supreme revelation is manifested to the world through Jesus Christ.

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All God has to say to us is expressed in Jesus Christ. Now revelation presupposes concealment. That which is concealed is revealed. Self-disclosure takes place.

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God wraps himself in human flesh and comes among us. He is not recognized here. People ask, "Who is this?" And they listen to his words and ask,

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"What new teaching is this?" Jesus teaches in parables, and they ask, "What new teaching is this?" His family appears early in his ministry,

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engaging in efforts to curtail or to end his ministry. They think that Jesus is beside himself. They think that he doesn't know what he's doing. They believe he is mad

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and they want him to stop his ministry and come home with them. But Jesus tells his disciples that he teaches in parables

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in order that the initiated may know and understand while the uninitiated will not. So Jesus reveals the Father. This is the divine disclosure.

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The scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests, Pilate and a host of others do not really know who Jesus is. That is why they are contrary.

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An African-American spiritual expresses the thought, sweet little Jesus boy, didn't know who you was. Didn't know you came to save us, Lord.

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Didn't know who you was. So the true identity of Jesus is hidden from the leaders. Pilate, the governor, asked during the trial proceedings, "Are you a king?

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"Are you king of the Jews?" And Jesus answers, "My kingdom is not of this world." Think about it. God's supreme revelation of himself

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is hidden from those to whom it appears. That's a problem in the 20th century. It was a problem in the first century. It's a problem with us now.

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We do not recognize the image of God. People are treated less than human because the image of God is not recognized. We as a people in our early history in this country

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were considered three fifths of a person. Three fifths, not a whole person, but three fifths. And we had to struggle with that for many, many years. Three fifths of a person.

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To think that every person is made in the image of God and for someone to seek to diminish that image and not recognize the sacredness of human personality in all the years that have passed.

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To come to the point when we came to this country in 1619, that there was still this problem of not recognizing the divine disclosure. For God has wrapped himself in human flesh.

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Doesn't matter what color you are, what race, what nationality, that God has put his image in every person. So we often try to attain this understanding

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to attain this understanding of the divine disclosure by reason, but it's a mystery. Every one of us is a mystery. God has given every one of us a gift

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and how God works in the life of every person and how he reveals himself and how that person chooses to disclose himself or herself, This is a mystery.

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And so we celebrate a mystery this morning. We follow in the steps of the master. There was a chorus of children saying, everybody ought to know who Jesus is.

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Everybody ought to know who Jesus is. And for everyone to know means that Jesus Christ has revealed himself to us in a special way. It's a special revelation.

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It's a divine disclosure that he reveals himself to us and we in turn can reveal his spirit, his way to others. A divine disclosure. St. Augustine puts it this way, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts

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are restless until we find rest in thee." God reveals himself through his word. He acts and he performs in such a way that we only know him through his divine revelation. We can't call God down from heaven and make him some creature subject to our whims.

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God chooses to reveal himself. It's all left up to God how he comes into our lives. It's all left up to him as to how he moves in human events. God acts and reveals himself.

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He acts in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son. And people see it and they do not believe. They hear, they do not understand. They are blind to the revelation.

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There is a depth to the truth. God's revelation comes and is accepted by babes. And it is not understood by the wise and prudent. And so Jesus says, "Fear not, little flock,

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"for it is the Father's good pleasure "to give you the kingdom." So the kingdom, the rule of God in our hearts is God's gift.

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It's God's revelation. We receive this gift through God's discretion. It cannot be received through human deception. So one of the things about Monica Lewinsky

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and Linda Tripp, one of the things that most people are concerned about was not so much, and they were concerned about that, the act itself that took place,

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but the fact that Monica was trusting Linda Tripp in a very confidential way. She thought she was unburdening herself, and she found out that what she was telling her

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in confidence was being taped and later was revealed to the whole nation. This is the distrust, the divine disclosure that comes to us is one that we can trust. It comes to us through the patriarchs, it comes to us through the priests, it comes

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to us through the prophets, and through the centuries His truth comes and just keeps marching on. So in the fullness of time, God discloses himself through Jesus Christ. So if we want to know, if you really want to know the person that you are supposed to

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be, look at Jesus Christ. There we see the mirror. We see the design that God has for every one of us in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ he comes to save us. So in the beginning God made Adam and Eve

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male and female he made them in the image of God he created them in the image of God. We are made in the likeness of the Creator the image of God has been been marred by sin, and it is restored through Jesus Christ. In the first Adam we sin all. In the first Adam we all fall, but

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in the second Adam we are raised up to a new beginning. So Jesus Christ, the new Adam, comes to restore the image of God in us. we have in us the image of the divine, that spark of divinity which makes us related as children, all of us, children in the family of God.

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That's the image that makes us related. We call it the sacredness of human personality. So God reveals Himself, He discloses Himself to His children through His Word, we are addressed. He speaks to us, addressing us.

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This is what happens when we worship. God addresses us. If we worship at all, we recognize in this service that we are addressed by God. through the songs that are sung, addressed through the instruments that are played, addressed

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through the Word that is proclaimed, addressed by God. He speaks, and in His speaking we come to know what He wants us to do. He speaks to us, and we feel His presence. That's why we can say, "Emmanuel, God is with us." He discloses himself to us, but it's just not a glimpse that we see and that's

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all. God is with us wherever we are, whatever may be our condition, our circumstance, God is with us. So the eternal, It's a wonderful thing to know that the eternal is manifested in that which is temporary.

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The eternal is with us, entering into our history. God discloses himself. Many times we think that God isn't around because he hides himself many times.

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He hides and then he reveals, you see. And it is both in the concealment and the revelation that we come to know who he is. So he walks with us, he talks with us,

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and he tells us that we are his own. Our ancestors put it this way, do you know the Lord? Do you really know the Lord? In other words, have you entered into an intimate

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relationship with him? Do you know who he is? And the response they gave in an old spiritual is I know the Lord.

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I know the Lord. I know the Lord has laid his hands on me. I know the Lord. Did anybody, you see the likes before of Jesus

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preaching to the poor, I know the Lord has laid his hands on me." That's the testimony that rings through the Christian family. It's a testimony that the first witnesses of the resurrection gave. When those women came to the tomb, we You hear Mary as she races from the tomb saying,

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I have seen the Lord. It's not enough just to say that God discloses himself. It's far more important to say that I have received the revelation in my life.

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That I know that he walks upon this earth because he walks with me. I know that he communicates because he communicates with me. And so we are to tell others, disclosing to others

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the marvelous deeds of God, the divine disclosure, the revelation of the creator to the creature. So as we come now to sing the hymn of invitation in the garden, we extend the privilege of the church

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because in the garden of our lives, Jesus comes. And there are those who may raise the question, who is this? What new teaching is this?

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Those of us who have been initiated into his fellowship are able to answer the question, I know. I know because I've trusted him, I know! Because he's my eternal contemporary.

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He walks with me and shares with me all of the experiences of this life. He discloses who he is in the midst of all of the struggles that we face. The door of the church is open.

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We invite you to unite with the family of God here at Ebenezer. [ Music ] ♪ And the dew is still on the roses ♪ ♪ And the voice I hear ♪

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♪ The young I hear ♪ ♪ Was loud, how loud his voice is ♪ ♪ And he walked with me ♪ ♪ And he talked with me ♪

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♪ He tells me I am his own ♪ ♪ And joy we share ♪ ♪ And we care he bears ♪ ♪ None other ♪

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♪ Than the Lamb Lord ♪ ♪ He's peace and the love of his Lord ♪ ♪ Is how sweet the word that's to sing ♪ And the melody that he gave to me, within my heart is ringing.

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On he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we carry them, none of them has ever known. I stay in the gardens with him, though the night around me be calling. When he gives me hope, the bars now close,

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His voice to me is calling. And he walks with me and he talks with me, And he tells me that I am his own. And the joy we share as we carry them,

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None other than El Rondo. [MUSIC] ♪ When together on our knees ♪ ♪ When I fall on my knees ♪

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♪ With my face to Christ in the sky ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, you have my strength on me ♪ ♪ Let us dream one together ♪ ♪ On our knees ♪

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♪ Let us dream one together ♪ ♪ On our knees ♪ - If there's anyone who should be served who's been omitted, would you raise your hand?

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♪ Let us dream one together ♪ [choir singing] [choral singing] [Music]

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Let us commune together. [BLANK_AUDIO]