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[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [ Music ]

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[ Music ] ♪ Oh freedom ♪ ♪ Oh freedom ♪ ♪ Oh freedom ♪

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♪ Freedom, oh freedom ♪ ♪ And before I may escape ♪ ♪ God be with ♪ ♪ And the home ♪

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♪ To thy good ♪ ♪ God be with ♪ ♪ No more ♪ ♪ Mourning ♪

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♪ No more ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ ♪ And before I leave this land ♪

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♪ I'll be married in my name ♪ ♪ And no hope shall be my friend ♪ ♪ To my road ♪ ♪ I'll be free ♪

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♪ There'll be shouting ♪ ♪ There'll be singing ♪ ♪ There'll be singing over me ♪ ♪ And before I'll be afraid ♪

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♪ I'll be buried in my grave ♪ ♪ And go home to my Lord and be free ♪ ♪ They'll be shouting ♪ ♪ They'll be shouting ♪

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♪ They'll be shouting over me ♪ ♪ Shouting over me ♪ ♪ And before I'll be a slave ♪ ♪ I'll be buried in my grave ♪

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And go home to my Lord and be free. I'll be praying. I'll be praying. I'll be praying over me.

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Over me. And before I feel asleep, I'll be praying for you. ♪ And go home to my Lord and be free ♪ ♪ Oh freedom ♪

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♪ Oh freedom ♪ ♪ Oh freedom ♪ ♪ Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom ♪ ♪ And before I be a slave ♪

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♪ I'll be buried in my grave ♪ ♪ And go home to my Lord ♪ ♪ For victory ♪ - Amen.

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- Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all ye lands. Sing forth the honor of his name, make his praise glorious. Say unto God, how terrible art thou in thy works.

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Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee. They shall sing to thy name.

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Come and see the works of the Lord. He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on foot.

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There did we rejoice in him. Psalm 66, verses 1 through 6. This deals with the experience of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt.

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And I want to call attention to two other passages of Scripture, Exodus 5 and 1. And Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go.

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Matthew, the second chapter, the 15th verse. Out of Egypt have I called my son. The subject of the message, escape from Egypt. Escape from Egypt.

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For 400 years, the children of Israel were enslaved in the land of Egypt. Bound by the shackles of slavery and beaten with many stripes by unmerciful taskmasters, they were

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deprived of exercising the inalienable rights with which they were divinely endowed. They were unable to worship God according to the desires of their hearts. Our physical and spiritual energies were heavily taxed by the placement of heavy burdens upon their shoulders by their masters.

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vassals, they were miserable creatures, overworked and poorly treated. Because there had arisen in Egypt a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph. The suffering children of Israel cried unto the God of their fathers. For centuries, day after day, they sent up the cry to heaven asking God to deliver them

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from the hands of ruthless taskmasters. heard their cries and in his own time raised up Moses to deliver them out of bondage. After Moses had received the necessary preparation for the task, he He was sent by God to bring the people out of Egypt.

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He went before Pharaoh and said to him that the Lord has said, "Let my people go." God had counted his own and sent Moses down to Egypt to appear before Pharaoh and to deliver this message of liberation. Egypt, a land of bondage.

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Egypt, a region of oppression for the people of God. Egypt, an experience of suffering. So begins the experience of Moses in leading the people in the struggle for full freedom. They demanded their freedom. It was not a message that was apologetically given. It was the demand

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of God let my people go." It was a demand upon their oppressors, those whose comfort largely depended, in this case, upon keeping the children of Israel in bondage. God calls us out of Egypt. It is according to the divine design that God wants everybody to be free. Free to be yourself, free to live your own life, free

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Free to interact with others. Free to sit under your own vine and fig tree with none to make you afraid. Free to follow the leadership of the Spirit of God. God wants people everywhere to be free.

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And as we celebrate the freedom struggle today, we do well to consider that freedom is of divine origin, that we are made to be free, that we are really not made for Egypt. And yet somehow in the course of human events, people, individuals, as well as races have been in bondage.

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And we still see it today. There is the experience of Egypt, not only in our land, but all over this world. So in a sense, Egypt is still with us. We look at it upon the map as being located in Africa, and we are familiar with the outstanding

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cultural contributions that Egypt has made to world history. But this particular experience has to do with Egypt as being associated with oppression, misery, with suffering, with deprivation. It's associated with the worship of many gods because there were many gods worshipped in Egypt and to get out of

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Egypt was to abandon false gods to get out of Egypt is to live the life that is divinely ordained. Now Pharaoh wanted the people to remain in bondage. It was not Pharaoh's will for the people to go. In fact, he increased their burdens. When When Moses went before him and said that the Lord has spoken saying let the people go,

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Pharaoh said now who is the Lord? Who is this you're talking about that I should let the people go? After he thought over the matter and there were plagues that visited Egypt, Pharaoh began to make some compromises. And all of these compromises are involved in escape

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from Egypt. First of all, after he had considered the matter, he called Moses and Aaron and said to them in that verse which is recorded in Exodus chapter 8 verse 25. He said, "Go ye sacrifice to your God in the land." So you want to get out of Egypt but you just go and remain in the land, go to a specific

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place in the land and sacrifice to your God. In other words, we don't want you to leave the boundaries of Egypt, but you say you want to worship your God, you want to go and make a sacrifice to your God, I'll permit that under certain conditions that you will remain in the boundaries of Egypt. And that's always

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involved in getting out of Egypt. There are those who somehow are faced with the temptation of remaining within the boundaries of Egypt, somehow not really seeking to throw off the yoke of poverty, not really seeking to be self-sufficient, not really seeking to maintain a position of dignity, but

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as long as I follow Pharaoh, I can somehow compromise with Pharaoh and remain within the boundaries of Egypt and still sacrifice to God. And there are many who try that today. There are many who tried in so many ways to compromise with full freedom. I think that's one of the problems in South Africa today. When you see so many blacks

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killing blacks it's because there are those within the community who somehow decided that they're going to try to compromise with apartheid if it is somewhat profitable to them and not really press for any radical changes. But full freedom involves escape from Egypt. It doesn't involve staying within the

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boundaries of Egypt, just going a certain little distance within the boundaries of Egypt and praying to God, but God's command is "Let my people go, get out of Egypt, get out of Egypt, get out of Egypt." Moses answers, "No, we're not going to remain in the boundaries of Egypt and sacrifice to our God.

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We must leave this land. That compromise is often made. Peoples who are living the wrong type of life-- and when the word of God comes to you

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to make a radical break with that kind of life, Satan comes back and says, don't really make a break with that. So you can join the church, you can associate with those who are Christians and you don't really have to give up this life, you don't have to make that kind of radical break.

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The word is get out of Egypt. So Moses speaks to Pharaoh saying, "No, we must leave this land." Now Pharaoh doesn't give up. He offers a second compromise.

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And this second compromise is in Exodus chapter 8, verse 28. Moses. I'll let the people go but only not so very far. If you are determined to go anyhow, if you must get out of Egypt, I will agree to let you go but don't be an extremist about the thing. Don't be fanatical. Don't go all out. Just go a

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little way, don't go very far, just go a little way from Egypt. First of all it was to stay in the land. Now the second compromise is don't go very far, you can get out of the land, but don't go too far from Egypt. Don't go all the way to Canaan, Just go a certain distance, a little way. Well, Moses said no, we're gonna go all

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the way. Some people say, you know, it's alright to be part of the Christian faith. One of the pastor talks about making a sacrifice. That's not for me. I I don't mind going so far. I don't mind somewhat tipping God,

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but not going all the way. Get out of the land. I'll do better than some who are within the confines of Egypt. But this second compromise is rejected.

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And then comes the third compromise. Pharaoh called Moses and said, "You go, serve the Lord just like you have desired, but who's going with you? That's what I want to deal with." Moses said, "Now all of us are going. The young and the old, our sons and our daughters, our flocks and herds, all of us are going.

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All of you? Pharaoh says, no, I don't want that. I just want some of you to go. And suppose you just take the men and leave the women and children and the flocks and the urge behind. I don't want all of you to go. You know sometimes the system will speak to us saying well as long as we can let one of you, you know a token that this is all right. We have what

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what we call the token black. One. He said, "Oh yes, we believe in freedom. We believe in fair play. We have one of you people up here." One. And then of course, escaping from Egypt has to do not only with how you handle yourself and the spirit that is within you, you see the experience of Egypt that of oppression has to do with how you handle

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your possessions. Well I can remember as I grew up as a boy what it meant to get out of Egypt because Egypt for us was being recipient of welfare during the depression, groceries, WPA, that was Egypt. The social worker would come by to look in to see whether or not

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you really measured up to those qualifications. I can remember that was Egypt. Being in Egypt was renting. It was moving from one place to another.

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If we got behind with the rent, we'd move somewhere else. I went by some years ago and I counted the places we lived in East Dallas and I must have counted nine or ten places where we lived.

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That was Egypt. And getting out of Egypt to my parents was being able to buy home and get it paid for. That's getting out of Egypt.

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Well, after many years of struggle, they finally bought a little home and paid for it. But as we celebrate liberation today, there are still many who are content to remain in Egypt,

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who really have no desire to buy a home. they're satisfied to rent all their lives. There are those who are somehow trapped in the welfare cycle of poverty and the like

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and are satisfied to remain just there, but the word is get out of Egypt. Get out of Egypt with everything that you have. It's not enough just to get your body out of Egypt,

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you must go out of Egypt with your spirit because somehow if your body is out of Egypt and your mind is still enslaved by the Egyptians you still are not free. Still are not free. You know there are many who wear an afro who still have minds that have not been liberated, still in Egypt, and the word

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comes to get out of Egypt. Leave the women. And you know we're still struggling for the liberation of women. Take the men out, that's what Pharaoh says, "Take the men out, but I want to keep the women there." Keep the women there and also the children. Children.

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No people can be free unless all the people are free. The men, the women, and the children. It's such a long, long experience, hard experience to get out of Egypt.

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We've just read recently of a terrible experience of mothers who were away partying, children locked up in the house and the house because of the kerosene stove that explodes, catches fire and the children are destroyed.

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And we still have to look at what we must do to save our children. That's involved in getting out of Egypt. We look at our educational system and we still have the struggle of getting our children out of Egypt. How do we get our children out of Egypt? Do we

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compromise with Pharaoh or do we somehow take a radical stand that the word that God has spoken, the divine design for his people, is that all will get out of Egypt. the men, the women, the children, the flocks, and the herds get out of Egypt. You know what Satan really doesn't like, what Pharaoh doesn't like, Satan, he

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really doesn't like family religion for the whole family to be united and dedicated to the worship of God. Moses said we'll take everybody, the whole family. So, well, let's take the men. And that's somehow still being in Egypt when a part of the family is somehow saying that

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I'm free, but I'll be all right, but I'll just let the others stay where they want to stay. Family religion is very important. The family be united.

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That's a compromise that Pharaoh offers. Well, Moses rejects that compromise in getting out of Egypt, and Pharaoh offers another compromise. He calls Moses, he said, "Well, you can go and serve the Lord. Only let your cattle stay here."

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He said, "Let your families go, but leave your substance behind. that. You know getting out of Egypt involves learning how to handle your substance. Some people don't see where this has anything to do with a sermon but it has everything to do with has everything to do with getting out of

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Egypt. God has made us to be poor people and somehow we have a way of glorifying poverty. But God has made us to enjoy all of the things of this life. And if we would get out of Egypt, we must learn how to make use of money, how to invest, getting into banking, getting where somehow we put aside something and

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and use it and dedicate it to the glory of God and not somehow just live it up. Too many people say, you know, I'm gonna get what I want. I don't have much time to be here,

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so I'm gonna enjoy whatever time I've got here. I'm not gonna worry about tomorrow. Grasshopper philosophy. And we never escape from Egypt with that.

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Never escape. Sometimes some people are blessed by God. and they accumulate this and that and they forgot how they get it and they never share it and they never put anything back to promote for the general

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welfare. We don't give to our black colleges, we don't give to the church, they don't give anything. So while they have amassed a great deal because of the fact that they really have not been liberated in the spirit that they are still somehow in Egypt. I've seen people who always boasted of what they had and

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they were always around showing what they've got but they never shared much of it. You know they always would open their purse to show what they've got and show you what they've been able to accumulate but they've never been known to share it. And they've died and it's all gone the wrong way. But if we would

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get out of Egypt it means that the cattle must somehow go with us that that as we are redeemed from Egypt all of our possessions are redeemed with us if we would get out of Egypt. Well they said no and finally you know the radical action that was taken. God came to the death angel and Pharaoh said to Moses,

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"You take the people and you get out." And they went out at night. That was their escape. They had to leave in a hurry on their way out of Egypt and the psalmist somehow catches that picture here in the 66th Psalm and he said he the sea into dry land. When you look at our history we wonder sometimes how did

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we make it? One black person, a friend of mine who was visiting in France had a person to ask, "How did black people survive in America?" Said, "The Indian didn't seem to do very well, but how did the black people make it?" How is it that somehow we took little and somehow we were able to use it in

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such a way that we made much out of it? It was somehow the hand of God working in the lives of his people. How is it that we were told that we did not have souls and yet somehow when we were permitted to embrace the religion of our slave masters that we took that religion and we were more true to it than our

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masters. That somehow God works doing radical action and he makes a pathway through the sea and the people of God who are enslaved walk through the sea on dry land and escape from Egypt. There's no condition or circumstance that God cannot deliver us from when we follow his word. It's all through obedience to

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his word that we are made free to live our lives. Well, when I can read my title clear, you know we all have some hindrances in this life. Children of Israel always had a struggle. They left Egypt, they passed through the waters, they passed through the fire, they always had a struggle, but the goodness of God

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was manifested in every obstacle that they faced. They were able to escape out of Egypt and somehow in the midst of it all while we we have our difficulties that there is one who will give us a day when we can read our title clear, when we can be completely free, enjoy the full freedom that God grants to his people.

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And we're going to sing that hymn at this time when I can read my title clear. And as we sing it, the door of the church is open. We invite you to come, accept Jesus as Lord of your life, making that escape from bondage, the bondage of the mind,

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the bondage of the body, the bondage of the spirit. My father was a hymn leader, and he led it the way-- I'm going to lead him the way that my father led him, if you'll follow.

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And he says, "When I can read my titles clear to mansions in the sky." I'm going to sing the first verse, please. "When I can read my titles clear to mansions in the sky,

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I bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes. I bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes. Should ice against my soul engage and fiery dots be hurled, ♪ Should I doubt death, my soul indeed ♪

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♪ And the riddles be heard ♪ - Then I can smile at Satan's rage and face the frowning world. ♪ Then I can smile at Satan's rage ♪

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♪ That fade the great ♪ ♪ And face the frowning ♪ ♪ Let cares like a wild deluge come ♪ ♪ And storms of sorrow fall ♪

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♪ Let cares like a wild deluge come ♪ ♪ And storms of sorrow pass ♪ ♪ May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven ♪ ♪ And my home ♪

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♪ May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven ♪ ♪ My home ♪ ♪ When I can reach my final gift ♪ ♪ To mansions in the sky ♪

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- I bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes. ♪ I bid farewell to every fear ♪ [singing] Let us pray.

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Almighty God, our Father, we thank you that the message of liberation comes to the oppressed and to the oppressor. The divine word, let my people go.

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We thank you that you're still at work liberating your people, making people free, whatever may be their race or their circumstance.

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We thank you for your presence in the struggle. And we pray that you will inspire us, comfort us and strengthen us, that we may continue to be identified with you

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in the liberation struggle here in America and throughout the world. That we too can identify with the words of the Psalmist and sing and shout saying that our God has led us through the sea on dry land,

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through the fiery furnace, that he has led us gently and safely. Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (music) [MUSIC PLAYING]

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