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[Silence] May we bow our heads now as we pray. [Silence] Bless us now, O God.

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fill our hearts with love and a deep sense of gratitude as we share our gifts. Remembering that we give you but that which is already your own. Grant that we may give it not grudgingly, wishing we had it back. Not to be seen of others, but to show forth our love

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and our gratitude. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [ Music ]

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[MUSIC PLAYING] ♪ Who can speak the years ♪ ♪ No matter how long it takes ♪ ♪ Just as you know ♪

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♪ That you're going to be with me ♪ ♪ Who knows the pain ♪ ♪ Of your life ♪ ♪ The more you give ♪

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♪ The more he gives to you ♪ ♪ He's not giving ♪ ♪ Because it's really true ♪ ♪ That you can't ♪

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♪ Be God, be me ♪ ♪ No matter how you try ♪ ♪ You can be God, be me ♪ ♪ No matter how you try ♪

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♪ Just as you ♪ ♪ As you will be ♪ ♪ And the Lord is in heaven ♪ ♪ Alive ♪

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♪ The more you give ♪ ♪ The more he gives to you ♪ ♪ But keep on giving ♪ ♪ Because it's really true ♪

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♪ That you can be what you be ♪ ♪ No matter how you try ♪ [MUSIC PLAYING] (bell tolling)

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[ Background noise ] [MUSIC PLAYING] (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music)

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(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music)

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(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music)

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(gentle piano music) [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [ Music ]

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I've anchored my soul in my head of grass And I'll say the white seas no more. The tempest may come. ♪ And the billows they roll ♪

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♪ But in Jesus' name I'm saved ♪ ♪ For I've entered heaven and am raised ♪ I don't get discouraged when the storm clouds pass my way. For my soul has been anchored in God, and I know he knows the way.

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He takes me in his arms to shield me from all harm. And together, I know we can make it. We can make it through any storm. I've anchored my soul, I've anchored my soul

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In the haven of rest, in the haven of rest And I'll sail, and I'll sail the wide sea no more ♪ The tempest may come ♪ ♪ You know the tempest may come ♪

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♪ And the billows ♪ ♪ The billows may roll ♪ ♪ But in Jesus I'm safe for ♪ ♪ I've entered that heaven of rest ♪

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[MUSIC] When the storm clouds pass my way, for my soul has been anointed in God, and I know He knows the way. He takes me in his arms, just to shield me from all harm. And together, together we can make it.

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We can make it through any storm. I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest. And I'll sail the wide seas no more. ♪ The tempest may come ♪

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♪ And the billows may roll ♪ ♪ But in Jesus I'm safe for all ♪ ♪ Enter that heaven of grace ♪ ♪ Yes, in Jesus I'm safe ♪

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♪ For I've entered that heaven of rest ♪ ♪ Oh, in Jesus I'm safe ♪ ♪ For I've entered that heaven of rest ♪ But in Jesus I'm safe for a pinter, for a pinter of bread.

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♪ Amen ♪ - Amen. - I should like to bring to you some special announcements.

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the single adult, excuse me, council, is sponsoring a seminar titled, The Single Adult Council. This council is...

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(orchestral music) - May we stand now as we sing together? (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

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(dramatic music) [MUSIC PLAYING] (dramatic music) [music]

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♪ Breathe on me ♪ ♪ Let it breathe on me ♪ ♪ Let the world fall apart ♪ ♪ And breathe on me ♪

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♪ Where will you be ♪ ♪ God of Israel ♪ ♪ Where will you be ♪ ♪ God of Israel ♪

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♪ Where, O Israel ♪ ♪ How long ♪ ♪ Thou wilt be ♪ ♪ For me ♪

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♪ I will forever be in your heart ♪ ♪ In your heart ♪ ♪ Here by your side ♪ ♪ Always ♪

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♪ Hear the crown of glory ♪ ♪ Oh, how I bless you, Lord ♪ ♪ Bless your house, too, dear ♪ ♪ Let our hearts be filled ♪

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♪ Will you be on me ♪ ♪ As you breathe on me ♪ ♪ Let it breathe on me ♪ ♪ Let the breath of life ♪

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♪ The breeze ♪ ♪ On me ♪ ♪ The breeze ♪ ♪ On me ♪

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♪ The breeze ♪ ♪ On me ♪ ♪ That comforts ♪ ♪ All the low ♪

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♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ - Hear this word that is recorded in the gospel according to Saint Matthew, the 20th chapter.

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In the first six verses. Here is another illustration of the kingdom of heaven. The owner of an estate went out early one morning to hire workers for his harvest field.

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He agreed to pay them $20 a day and sent them out to work. A couple of hours later, he was passing a hiring hall and saw some men standing around waiting for jobs, so he sent them also into his fields,

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telling them he would pay whatever was right at the end of the day. At noon and again around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he did the same thing.

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At 5 o'clock that evening, he was in town again and saw some more men standing around and asked them, "Why haven't you been working today?" "Because no one hired us," they replied. "Then go on out and join the others in my field," he told them.

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That evening he told the paymaster to call the men in and pay them, beginning with the last men first. When the men hired at 5 o'clock were paid, each received $20. So when the men hired earlier came to get theirs, they assumed they would receive much

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more, but they too were paid $20. They protested. Those fellows worked only one hour, and yet you paid them just as much as those of us who worked all day in the scorching heat.

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Friend, he answered one of them, I did you no wrong. Didn't you agree to work all day for $20? Take it and go. It is my desire to pay all the same. It is against the law. Is it against the law

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to give away my money if I want to? Should you be angry because I am kind? And so it is that the last shall be first and the first last. The subject of the message, good workers and fair wages. Good workers and fair wages.

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The work ethic is basic in our society. In fact, it is basic in all societies. To engage in honest toil is honorable. work contributes to meaningful and positive action.

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So as we gather here today on the eve of Labor Day, we do well to remember the fact that Labor Day celebrates the place of work in the human situation and focuses attention on the significance of the work of it. Scriptures teach that God works.

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We read in the book of Genesis that God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. Jesus said, "My Father is working still, and I am working." Jesus is remembered as a worker, a carpenter. He was a builder.

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Jesus tells this story, which is the basis of our message, in illustrating to his hearers the nature of the kingdom of God. It's commonly called "The Parable of the Laborers." It's a story about a generous employer and grumbling employees.

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It is a story that magnifies the importance of work. When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, he told them to dress the garden and to keep it. They were to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow.

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The setting of this story is in the world of work. It has to do with the everyday tasks which are essential to the ongoingness of life. The time is the month of September, the time when grapes were ripe, harvest time. If the harvest is not gathered before the rains come, it's ruined.

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So there is an urgency about the task. The owner of the vineyard is deeply concerned about workers in his vineyard. It is urgent. The time is short. The harvest is plenteous.

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The laborers are few. Unemployment is one of the problems of our society. There remain many people in our society who are prepared to work, but who have nothing to do.

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They are idle because there is no work for them to do. No job is available. Some are on welfare rolls.

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Others are recipients of unemployment compensation. But nevertheless, they are unemployed. We say it is the goal of our society to have full employment, to have good workers,

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to have work for them to do and fair wages. Oh, not just work to say that they're engaging in something to pass the time of day, but to have work that is meaningful. The story that Jesus tells is not designed to establish guidelines

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for management and labor relations. It is a story to illustrate the nature of the kingdom and to point up Christian teaching concerning rewards. The owner of the vineyard goes to the employment office

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and contacts workers early in the morning. He promises to pay them the average daily wage, $20 per day. The main characters in this story are

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the owner of the vineyard, the workers, the paymaster. The owner is concerned about the harvest and the welfare of the workers,

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So he agrees to pay a living wage To pay that which will enable them to meet the demands of life Most workers are concerned about the kind of work to be done and the rate of pay What rewards will be given for the service performed?

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That's the question we raise when we Hear about a job the first thing We asked that's the first question. What does it pay? What are the duties what's to pay

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He just said Lord we've Left everything to follow you and what will we get? What's the reward? What's the rate of pay these workers are given $20 per day? The basic difference between communism and capitalism

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is that communism claims that the worker is exploited in the profit system of capitalism, while communism seeks to provide for the worker and in the communistic system, the worker's on everything.

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So as we look at our system, and we look at other systems in the world, the important thing is what is the welfare of the worker. The owner here commands the workers to go into the vineyard and work,

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and, obedient to this command, gives the workers something to do. It's not just something to do to pass the time away, as I said earlier. It contributes to the progress of the kingdom. They are to harvest the grapes.

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The worker finds meaning in the work. It's important. It's urgent. Some are hired at 6 o'clock in the morning. Some are hired at 9 a.m., three hours later.

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Some are hired at noon, three hours later. Some at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, still three hours later and then some are hired at five o'clock just an hour before quitting time hour before the end of the day and when the pay time

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comes the last hired are paid first and on it goes those who came at five who worked only an hour received $20. Those who worked from 3 o'clock until 6 o'clock received $20. And it's in a reverse order for those who come last

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are paid first, and those who came first as they, yeah. What the others have received, that's so much less. like us we want to know what are the others getting not what we are supposed to get but what did you get and they discover that the others have received

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$20 and they already have it in their minds that they what they're gonna get and surely if they came and they did not work as many hours as we worked and we were here from the beginning of the day from 6 until 6 we worked all day day. Surely he's going to give us more. And we, we, we, rightly so, we complain as a people

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because we know what it is to be in that role of being the last hired and the first fired. That's been our role as a people in this country. We, even today when we look at the unemployment situation there is a disproportionate percentage of black people, black youth, who are unemployed in this country. That's a role we've had for a long time as a people. But all people are

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concerned in this country about what we call risk policies, R-I-F, reduction in force is what that means. And once we get on the job, we want to know what's going to happen if it becomes necessary for the force to be reduced. Are you going to do this on a seniority basis? By the first that were hired will be the last that will be released. That's what we like

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in our arrangements, seniority. Seniority, the first, the one who's worked longest on the job has certain privileges. That's the way it is in our world of work. But Jesus uses this analogy in the world of work to show how it is in a contrast. It's a contrast here. The way it is in the world of work is not the way it is

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in the kingdom of God. It's different. Seniority, seniority. I was there first. Honey, I've been there a long time. And you know sometimes we even have it in the church, someone who are the newcomers, someone says, "Where did she come from?

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Who is this person? I don't know them. How did they get where they are? That person ought not be an officer at Ebenezer when somebody else has been here longer.

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How did they just get in and get started?" I hear that. Seniority. That's the way the Pharisees felt.

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They felt because they had come early in the morning, because they had been there working from 6 o'clock until 6 o'clock, that they somehow had a right to certain privileges and certain pay,

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that they had a right to that. that would be more than those who came later. And so they are grumbling. They are murmuring.

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They are complaining. And you see, they look upon infusion of new blood as an intrusion. I wanna say that again.

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They look upon infusion as intrusion, the infusion of new blood as an intrusion upon their rights. Many communities are like that.

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In fact, I hear it in many communities. Some people don't like folk to see Austin grow. we talk about the no growth. They look upon the infusion of new people in this community as being something that is undesirable. They'd like for it to be just the size they want it to be.

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And that's pretty small. They look upon infusion of new blood as an intrusion. But this is not the way of the kingdom. This is not the way of the kingdom. Time comes, they feel that they have priority because they've

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been there longer and they think that they should dictate and control the policy because they have priority. But the time comes and the pay is the same, $20 a day. Familiar saying I used to hear in the church when I was a boy, may seem rather trite but

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it's true, those that do God's work will get God's pay. who do God's work will get God's pay. I didn't say how long you may do it but if you do his work some people live a long time some some live three score and ten and then some and some die in the morning of their existence as Christians

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but those who do God's work will get God's pay and the pay is $20 a day it's the same for every person who goes into the vineyard. The pay is the same. It's the same for those who work in the vineyard no matter whatever time they may enter. The pay is the same. Twenty dollars a day. Pay is the same. That's the way it is in the

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kingdom. What time did you come into the kingdom? Well I came when I was just a lad, nine years of age I came into the kingdom and someone else comes into the kingdom at 70 they make the decision and they only have an hour to work but the pay is the same all of us are get the same pay and that's eternal life. That's all. Eternal life.

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Doesn't matter what may be one's condition, what may be one's background, what may be one's longevity, whatever it is, it's not so much the time that we put in in the field, it's the quality of life, it's the relationship to God. The pay is the same. The pay is the same, the same pay, $20 a day.

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Well, what's involved in the pay? Well it means that if you do God's work and you get His pay, it's working not thinking about the reward. You never make a good worker.

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You know, if you are working on the job, and all while you're working on the job, you're trying to leave the job. You're not going to be a good worker. There's some ministers who pastor a church like that.

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They pastor one church looking every time they can hear word of another one that's vacant. And they miss the opportunity of doing the kind of job where they are, where someone else would see it, because they're looking for something else. Some people are only concerned about the paycheck, and they cannot do what ought to be done because

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their eye and their attention and all of their energies is just focused on payday. So they don't do what ought to be done today because they are so much concerned about payday, rewards. Well, here are some who are just working out there.

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They weren't concerned about the reward. In fact, it's the group that Jesus talks about in another story when the time came for the pay, they were surprised at the pay they received. They did the work.

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But here are these who are working, are receiving what God promised and God always gives what he promises and he promises that if you work for me, that you're going to get joy. If you're really working for God, that there's joy in the work. If you don't get any joy out of what you're doing, you check and see who you're working

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for. You look again at who you're working for. If you don't enjoy singing in the choir, question why you're there, if you don't really enjoy it.

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If you're teaching a Sunday school class and you really don't enjoy, if you're a Christian and you really don't enjoy living the Christian life, there's something wrong, basis of your Christianity. But those who work for God, there's joy. Oh, there is the scorching heat of the sun. Some came out there while the morning dew was still there. They came in into the vineyard and

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Others came a little later and they felt the scorching heat of the sun and others came and they came during the listening shadows of the evening. But the pay is just the same. But the joy that comes, the joy of knowing that you're working for the Lord,

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The joy of having fulfillment, that's the joy of knowing that somehow in the midst of it all, I've done my best. There's a certain sense of joy that comes with that. Oh, you may not be able to do it somewhat else, but when you say that I've done my best, when you can look to God and say, "Lord, may not be much, but I'm all I've got and I'm giving all I am to you."

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Oh, there's a sense of joy in that when you're working for him. God has arranged it so that the reward is just the same. Oh, some may come from what we call royalty. Some in this country boast that they came over--their ancestors came over on the Mayflower.

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Some say, "Well, they're the daughters of the American Revolution." and others say we're the daughters of the Republic of Texas, but really basically the important thing is whether you're a citizen of this country. The important thing is not whether or not you're of Jewish blood, not whether you can

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claim, "Well, I'm a Jew and Jews somehow were the first to accept God in a unique way." No, no, there's the Gentiles that came later, but somehow the path is just the same for both and there are 12 gates in that city at the end of the way and those 12 gates there four gates are on the east and four gates are on the west and the east faces the rising sun

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there's some who will come in the morning of their lives and the west has to do with the setting sun some will come in the evening but the pay is just the same thanks be to God that he determines the pay. You ought to be glad about that because if the Pharisees had to determine it then they would have seen to it that those who were the Republicans who came later would not have received it

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but God in his grace and in his goodness the pay is just the same. The joy is just the same. The joy and the sense of satisfaction in serving God That grace is available to everyone and it pays. It pays. It really pays to do right.

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It pays to serve Jesus. It pays to hook up with each other. It pays to walk with the left hand step of the way of liberty. Amen.

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Please make me hop and burn with me in heaven. [inaudible] [inaudible] And pain, pain all of us.

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Somehow every day God somehow is in pain, I think, in the way that we are related to him. But the great chaos is in the middle of the way. [inaudible]

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And every day can he invite you to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life? You can force marriage and enter into a murderous kingdom. Maybe you're only making offsprings at you. You need a church home.

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We invite you to come here today. You might as well have a family of God and church believers. Maybe you've never accepted Jesus Christ, but the Lord has said you might be baptized.

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By faith, he says. [MUSIC PLAYING] [ Music ] The servant of Jesus who measures the poor,

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in him there is joy. ♪ With love and joy ♪ ♪ His heaven to trust Him ♪ ♪ And rest on His words ♪

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♪ In praise to serve His cause ♪ Each day. In praise, serve Jesus. In praise, every day.

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In praise, every step of the way. ♪ I don't know when ♪ ♪ Or the pathway to glory ♪ ♪ May sometimes be grim ♪

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♪ Who will that be ♪ ♪ Be still, all the way ♪ ♪ God, we thank you, sir Jesus ♪ ♪ Our day may be tired ♪

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♪ We pray to you ♪ ♪ What dare you make do ♪ ♪ 'Tis riches of mercy ♪ ♪ Give him to abide ♪

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♪ With grace to serve thee ♪ ♪ Love each day ♪ ♪ Please have mercy ♪ ♪ Give thanks that he's loved ♪

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♪ In ways every day ♪ ♪ In faith every step ♪ ♪ Is never your way ♪ ♪ For the pathway to glory ♪

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♪ May sometimes be dreary ♪ ♪ You'll be happy ♪ [ Music ]