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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] ♪ The hearts of men are bounding ♪ ♪ And love will be the one ♪

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♪ To keep the well-being guiding ♪ ♪ To share the agony ♪ ♪ The thought of Him, I now truly ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, remember me ♪

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♪ Oh Lord, remember me ♪ ♪ When I am home alone ♪ ♪ When I am lost and missing ♪ ♪ Will you come and show ♪

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♪ Oh yes, and hurry, I can be no rush ♪ ♪ No confidence can be reached ♪ ♪ But when I reach the burning gate ♪ ♪ He will bring me home here ♪

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♪ Oh what a shame to him ♪ ♪ They're wrong, they're wrong, they're wrong ♪ ♪ I set my neck on the edge ♪ ♪ To rescue all the lost ♪

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♪ His blood has made my race a ♪ ♪ To stand and act is free ♪ ♪ I know that I am through yet ♪ ♪ He will remember me ♪

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♪ Where the northern lights are shining ♪ ♪ Where I am called to go ♪ ♪ Where I am called to speak ♪ ♪ To live a better soul ♪

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♪ Oh yes, in the earth behind the wheels ♪ ♪ From where all is set in three ♪ ♪ And when I reach the burning end ♪ ♪ He will renew for me ♪

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♪ He is redeeming, unyielding ♪ ♪ My sins are not unpaid ♪ ♪ By power in me He will heal ♪ ♪ My soul is truly blessed ♪

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♪ I'm lucky I'm the only one ♪ ♪ So that the last I see ♪ ♪ I will enrich your heart ♪ ♪ He will renew the meaning ♪

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♪ He will open up his heart ♪ ♪ When I am called to go ♪ ♪ When I am gone and she leaves me ♪ ♪ Will he be love and joy ♪

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♪ Oh yes, he will be like a needle ♪ ♪ For all her heart is empty, free ♪ ♪ But when I reach for her hand ♪ ♪ He will bring the peace ♪

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♪ The angels of our creator ring ♪ ♪ With love and hope to the Lord ♪ ♪ Then I and Moses will be seen ♪ ♪ Will be healed from their sorrows ♪

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♪ Oh yes, the earth hath been overcome ♪ ♪ My Father's hand has been freed ♪ ♪ But when I reach the burning end ♪ ♪ He will be there for me ♪

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- Amen. We continue our sermon series based on the book of Hebrews. How many of you have your Bibles? Let me see how many of you have your Bibles.

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Good. Would you turn with me to Hebrews, the seventh chapter? As we read the first three verses, "For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

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whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God abideth a priest continually, giving tithes."

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The writer of the letter to the Hebrews endeavors to show to that early Christian community that they really have that which is better. As he makes comparisons with the old faith, or the old religion, Judaism, with Christianity, he indicates that everything in the Christian faith is better. He shows that we have a better way of life because the one who

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is the author and finisher of our faith is the perfect high priest. He's superior to the priests of the old order. Jesus Christ is priest after the order of Melchizedek. It is well for us to be reminded of the function of a priest.

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The priest is for fallen humanity where there is no sin, where there is no indication of fallen humanity, there is no need of priest. Adam and Eve were in the paradise of Eden. They walked with God.

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They talked with him in that garden. experienced fellowship with him, there was no need for a mediator. A priest is a bridge builder. We believe that it is ours to be priests to each other.

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But God, through Jesus Christ, has made of us a kingdom of priests so that each one of us is a priest. Each one of us is to serve as a bridge builder to God for each other. Jesus Christ is our high priest, and as our high priest, he is the one who makes it possible

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for every one of us to enter into the presence of God, to have access to the heavenly Father. Now in this particular passage of Scripture, the author makes use of an Old Testament character whom very little is said or known. And he uses Melchizedek in relationship to giving.

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The priest has to do with worship services, and giving is an essential part of worship. In ancient times, people endeavored to placate the deity by the sacrifice of dumb animals or some particular substance that would be consumed on the altar of sacrifice. The priest was the one who offered the sacrifice for the people.

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Sometimes the priest was the head of the family. Sometimes the priest was the head of the clan, sometimes the priest was the king, but it was the priest who offered the sacrifice. He was the go-between, he was the bridge builder, he was the mediator between the people and

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God. Now the writer in the seventh chapter here of Hebrews deals with this particular aspect of the priestly function of ancient times that has to do with giving, the giving of the tithe, the giving of a tenth.

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It was the function among the many other duties that the priest had, one of his functions was to receive tithes, to receive the tenth from the people. And the writer indicates that we have a better priest. Our high priest is better than the high priest of the old order, for Jesus Christ is priest

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after the order of Melchizedek. When we read the 14th chapter of Genesis, we notice that Melchizedek appears there without any introduction, he just suddenly appears on the scene. Melchizedek appears there, Abraham comes to him

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after he has had the victory over the kings and he gives to Melchizedek a tenth of what he has. He gives a tithe. He recognizes Melchizedek's priesthood.

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He recognizes his position, his function. And the translation here is that he gives him one-tenth of all that he has, and he gives that off of the top, not from the bottom.

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It's not from what is left after everything else has been appropriated. You know how that is when you're drinking coffee, when you get to the bottom you have the drugs that's left or when you go to the

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store and you pick over what's there you you get what's left you don't get the best. But Abraham gives off of the top and this is a gift it's Abraham's expression of his faith a concrete manifestation of his love. It's Abraham's commitment. It's Abraham's expression of his loyalty to God. This is Abraham's

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expression of his faithfulness. Now Abraham is the father of the faithful. He's the our father in the faith. Abraham is known as patriarch. He's the model of faith in the Old Testament. Abraham is remembered as a pilgrim. He started out as in Ur of Chaldees to make the pilgrim reach to the land that God

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would show him and so he is our fellow traveler on the upward way. Now it says here that Abraham gives a tent, he gives a tithe. Now this is a passage of scripture that's oh it's very seldom mentioned in the in the New Testament people always say you know reverend there's nothing about tithing in the in

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the New Testament they don't read enough but you read this seventh chapter of Hebrews where the writer is showing where the Christian has everything that is better than what the Jews of old had in Judaism that here is an event which happens prior to the law. People often say you know Reverend that

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was under the law. Well this is before the law was given and Abraham because of his faith gives the tithe to Melchizedek before the law of the tithe is given which we find later in the book of Numbers. Abraham's action antedates the law, the law which was given to govern the actions of men. This is Abraham's

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action which is motivated by his faith. You know it's a wonderful thing with today, well we're in the midst of the celebration of beginning of the celebration of 200 years of the Constitution of the United States of America which will culminate next year, 200 years. And we pride ourselves in

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being a nation of law and as people who have been persecuted we have had to point time and time again to the Constitution and we have had to depend upon such civil rights organizations at the NAACP to point up the the application of the Constitution in everyday life.

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Law is very, very important. But you see, law really has to do with governing the external actions of people. In other words, the law requires you to act right. In other words, you're going down the street and the law says that you're to stop on that

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red light, you know, whether you want to stop or not. you obey the law else you suffer the consequences. You may not like it. In fact you may be uttering some unpleasant words while you stop because it hinders you on your way. And so people can obey the law without really wanting to,

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without really having the spirit of the law. But here this action of Abraham antedates the law, it's an action which is motivated by the heart, it is not something that is forced upon him by law, it is that which has its origin in the inward parts, that is what motivates this action. And when we really

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give, whether it be some service or whether it be some particular material thing, whatever it may be, it ought to be that which is motivated by the Spirit. Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek, the high priest, and the Scripture teaches that the priesthood, the priesthood sons of Levi or the sons of Aaron, that they

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the sons of Aaron or the sons of Levi, the priests of those days were to receive tithes, they were to receive the tithe from their brothers and they were to give a tenth themselves, but here Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The priests of the Levitical order were descendants of

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Levi and they had to be able to trace their lineage, you had to be able to show that from generation to generation that you had come through this particular line and just because you were born into that family you were regarded as a a priest but in the case of Jesus he is not the priest because he was born into

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a certain family. In fact he was not even of the tribe of Levi. The Bible says that he was of the tribe of Judah and that is not the tribe from which the priest came. And he is appointed, the writer is showing us, that he is appointed priest. He's not priest because of being born into a family in a physical way, but he

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is priest because he is appointed of God, that he has fulfilled the will of God and it is because of his obedience to God that he is appointed high priest. So he is our priest. Melchizedek is met by Abraham and Melchizedek is a model for what the writer has to say regarding the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

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Melchizedek you see, first of all the Bible says that he is the priest of the most high God. He's the priest of the most high God. He is the king of Salem which means king of peace. The name Melchizedek itself means king of righteousness. So here is this man who is the king of righteousness or the king of

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justice. Here is this man who is the priest of the most high God and of Of course, the most high God, there were other gods that were worshiped by other nations, but El Shaddai, the most high God that's mentioned time and time again in the experience of Abraham, is the God that is higher than all others.

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He is the most high God. He is over all of the gods of this world. He's the most high God. may have our gods, some have drugs, some have wine, some have money itself, but

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this is the most high God. And Abraham meets Melchizedek, and as he meets Melchizedek, not only does he present to him the tithe, but it is also said here that there is bread and wine given by Melchizedek to Abraham. And you know what that sounds like? That sounds like what we are going to do here today in the

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celebration of Holy Communion, bread and wine. It's symbolic of what we have so many years later when Jesus breaks bread and gives the wine to his disciples. Because in the midst of the worship, in the midst of the giving, there is the fellowship, the fellowship with the Spirit of God. The wine represents

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that fellowship, the bread of course represents the Word of God and that covenant relationship that exists among the people of God. So Abraham and Melchizedek have this feast together in this covenant relationship of bread and wine. His priesthood of righteousness, his priesthood of peace, this is our

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problem today, our problem is that we often try to have peace without righteousness. You know but there can be no righteousness and there can be no peace without righteousness. We're never gonna have peace no matter how much we may try to do it through our economic and social structures we will

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never never never really have peace apart from righteousness because you see righteousness is the root and peace is the fruit. It's only when people become rightly related to themselves, it's only when people become rightly related to each other, it's only when people become rightly related to God that we can have

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peace and to have peace in our time. Melchizedek appears here as one who has no father, nothing is said about his ancestry, there's no mention of his genealogy at all, he has neither father nor mother, there's nothing said about the way he started, no nothing about his the beginning or his end, so Melchizedek

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here represents that which is eternal, that which abides. So Jesus has no beginning, he has no end, Jesus Christ, no beginning, no end. His priesthood is like that of Miss Chisodek. You don't have to say, "Well, his office for priesthood was just during the first century." No, he is beyond all of the

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centuries of the world, his priesthood is forever. It is after the order of Melchizedek because Melchizedek was like unto the Son of God. So Jesus as our high priest is after the order of this patriarch, of this priest of old. He has no beginning, he's eternal. And you see in the priesthood of mortal men, one

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priest died and he was succeeded by another. But Jesus Christ has no successor. There is none to compare with him, there is none to come after him. He stands alone. He stands above all others. He alone is on the throne. And Jesus Christ as our high priest is after the order of Melchizedek. Those who were of

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the tribe of Levi were of an earthly order, but he is altogether of a heavenly altar. He's higher, he's holy, he heals our hurts, he helps us in our struggles. Jesus Christ is after the altar of Melchizedek, king of righteousness. You see, and we need a king to point out the path of righteousness for us, we need

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that. We don't know which way to go. We need someone who walks before us who can say this is the way, walk in it. We need the King who will point out the way of righteousness, and we need also the King of Peace because there's so many contrary winds, there's so many angry waves against which we have to contend,

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there are so many discordant notes that we have to hear in the midst of our experience, and we need the King of Peace. We need him. We need the Christ who is the prophet, one who declares the Word of God was known as the prophet, but Jesus Christ is himself that Word and we need that, for we find ourselves in a moral

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marshland and there is need for a priest to dissolve the differences that are propelled by sin. Someone who can build a safe bridge between man and God, we need that priest, and Jesus Christ alone is the absolute priest. He alone makes the supreme sacrifice. He alone, he just doesn't go through some pantomime, but he

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performs the function of a priest. There's nobody else that when your heart is disturbed, when your mind is confused, there's no one that can speak a a word of comfort and heal your hurt like Jesus Christ. He is that for all of us and so often we forget that he alone requires of us our all. Abraham was a man

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of God who trusted him in faith. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek who was a symbol of Jesus Christ and we in the New Testament era are to pay tithes to Jesus Christ who is our high priest who is after the order of Melchizedek who reigns forever. He who made the supreme sacrifice for us demands that we should

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give our all to him. There's an old story of a king who said to his subjects that for the one who made the most sacrificial gift would receive a third of his kingdom and there were those who made various gifts to the king but finally the one who was selected as having made the most sacrificial gift

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was one who came before the king and said that all I have to give King is is just one grain of rice, that's all I have in this world. And the king was touched by that sacrifice and he said that I will give to you one third of my kingdom.

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And the man went away greatly pleased because he had kept back two grains of rice. And he came to the king later, having received one third of the kingdom, he said,

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well, king, I have another grain of rice. And the king took that grain of rice and gave him another third of his kingdom. A little later, he came back and he found another grain of rice.

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And he gave that to the king, thinking that he would get the other third of the kingdom. And the king said to him, you rascal, you scoundrel, you dishonest one, you cheat.

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Said, take away from him everything that has been given to him, cast him into the outer darkness, for he is not fit to live because he has been dishonest. He claimed to have given his all and he did not.

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He was dishonest with the king. The one who has given his all to us demands that we put our all on the altar for him. We find it rather difficult many times.

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We look over this passage and people say, well, you know, Reverend, that just doesn't apply to money. And they are right. It doesn't.

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It applies to everything. As the song says, put your all on the altar. And to put your all on the altar means that in a materialistic culture that we make sacrifices.

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We make sacrifices not only in spirit, but we make sacrifices in the application of those resources which are entrusted to us. Because Jesus Christ is the one who

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makes it possible for us to have access to God. That's what the cross says to us. That's what the cross says as we see him there with hands outstretched and we hear one crying, "Lord, Lord, when you come into your kingdom,

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remember me." This man was a murderer. This man was dying on the cross and Jesus himself is dying on the cross and this man wants to have access to God.

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This man wants to have access to the eternal mercy. man wants to have access to the God who has compassion on sinful creatures and Jesus says to him this day, this day shall thou be with me in paradise. It's because he had surrendered his all to Christ that he received all that God has

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to give in his kingdom. And as we come to the hymn of invitation we invite you now to accept Jesus Christ as Lord, to identify with the people of God here at Ebenezer in seeking to fulfill his will. For Jesus Christ is the bridge builder. He's the bridge builder that enables us to go from being lost into being saved.

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He's the bridge builder that leads us from darkness into light. He's that bridge builder that leads us from falsehood into truth he's the bridge builder that leads us from sin into righteousness when we surrender our all to him

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[ Music ] >> Now the church is open. The invitation is extended. We invite you to come.

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[ Music ] ♪ All to Jesus I surrender ♪ ♪ All to Him I freely give ♪ I will ever love and trust him in his presence daily live.

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♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ All to thee my God ♪ ♪ To thee, my blessed Savior ♪

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♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ All to Jesus I surrender ♪ ♪ Jesus, I surrender ♪ ♪ Humbly at his feet I bow ♪

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♪ Worldly pleasures all to thee ♪ ♪ Worldly pleasures all forsaken ♪ ♪ Take me Jesus, take me now ♪ ♪ I surrender all, all ♪

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♪ All ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ All to thee, my blessed Savior ♪ ♪ Be my blessed Savior ♪

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♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪

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♪ All to thee, my blessed Savior ♪ ♪ My blessed Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, I surrender my all ♪ ♪ My own ♪

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my own. [ Background Sounds ]