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[Music] [Music] [MUSIC] ♪ Let Jesus come into your heart ♪

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♪ May you be proud of him once again ♪ ♪ Let Jesus come into your heart ♪ ♪ Just as you are ♪ ♪ Just as he's entering your home ♪

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♪ Just as you opened the door ♪ ♪ And came running through your heart ♪ ♪ If you hear a king coming to town ♪ ♪ Let him come into your heart ♪

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♪ And what king is that calling nearby ♪ ♪ Let peace now enter your heart ♪ ♪ Just now the heavens below ♪ ♪ Just now rejected the home ♪

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♪ Just now open the door ♪ ♪ Let peace now enter your heart ♪ ♪ Just now they've opened the door ♪ ♪ Just now they've opened the door ♪

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♪ Just now they've opened the door ♪ ♪ And Jesus crowned Him to be our Lord ♪ ♪ Into your heart ♪ - Would you bow with me in a word of silent prayer?

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[ Silence ] Father, I stretch my hands to Thee. ♪ For no one there I know ♪ ♪ For if thou wilt withdraw ♪

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♪ Thy sail from me ♪ ♪ O'er the ship I go ♪ We thank God that he has blessed us with another opportunity to stand before you, his people,

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that he has found us faithful and that he has placed us into this ministry. We are thankful for this opportunity to again be speaking on behalf of our pastor and his wife

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in celebration of 29 years of stellar service. And we're glad to have him, his wife, and his family to celebrate with this church family. And we thank God for that.

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In the book of Job, that 19th chapter, I'd just like to read first verse, or the eighth part of that verse, number 25.

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I know that my redeemer lives. I know that my redeemer lives. That's the title of the message this morning. I know that my redeemer lives.

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Thank you, ushers. There comes a time in all of our lives When life is just filled with so many questions, but so few answers,

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often these questions are associated with some trial, some tribulation, some tragic circumstance, some trouble that we find ourselves in, And oftentimes, especially when we feel it's undeserved,

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that it's unfair, that it's unexpected, really when you're in the midst of those kinds of situations you come up with a whole lot of questions. Who?

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Who's responsible? What? What's going on? When?

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When will it all be over? Where? Where did we go wrong? How?

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How do I get myself out of this mess? And probably the biggest question of all is why? Why me? Why?

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I'm pretty sure, Caudette, your daughter, Yumika, was probably asking, "Lord, why me?" (audience laughing) But she did a great job.

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Why? But life every now and then throws us a few curve balls. A few curve balls. And it causes us to suffer for no apparent reason.

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And we always tend to ask the question, why? Why? I think about the James Byrd family. My father is originally from Jasper, so that hit home with me.

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And I think about that family, and I'm sure they're still asking the question, why? They interviewed the father of the young man from UT that was drowned by the two gentlemen that carjacked him and they placed him in the trunk and pushed him off into the river.

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And when they were interviewing the father, one of the things he was asking is that if he would have an opportunity to talk with the two gentlemen that committed the act,

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he'd like to ask why. He just couldn't understand why his son, young life, gone, snuffed out. And so we've all been there, we've all been there.

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We often ask why. The family wage earner who's gotten his pink slip and now he's gonna be laid off, doesn't know how he's gonna take care of his family,

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asking why. The patient who has just received the information from the doctor and the doctor says that they only have a few days

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a few months and they're asking themselves why, why? Tragedies of life. And in this story of Job, we have a similar situation. In Job's situation, he finds himself asking why, why?

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I need to understand what is it that I've done wrong? I've lived upright because the scripture says that Job was an upright and just man. He was perfect before the Lord.

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So I've lived an upright life. And I can't understand why is it that I'm going through what I'm going through? And just as a summary for those of you

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who may have forgotten Job's situation, his plight, Job was a rich, wealthy man in his time. Everybody knew Job. Job was an upright man.

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Job had 10 children, I believe seven boys and three girls. Job had cattle, 10,000, 5,000 heads of cattle, 5,000 camels. Job had, well, Job had not only the cattle,

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but he had sheep, he had herds of sheep. And so all of this for Job was gone. in a matter of moments. I mean, in the first chapter, it tells us

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that one servant came running to Job and said, your flocks, your cattle has been stolen, and your servants have been killed. And before he could finish saying what he had to say,

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another servant came running and said that the flocks that you have, they've come down, and the Lord has sent fire from heaven and destroyed all of them.

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And before he could finish, another came and said the Chaldeans have come and they formed a raiding party, Job, and they've stolen all of your camels.

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And before he could finish what he was saying, one came and told him, Job, all of your sons and daughters were together in the oldest son's house,

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and a mighty wind struck the four corners of the house it collapsed and all of them died. And in a matter of moments Joe went from being here to being brought down low. Life is filled with swift transitions and we can be riding the wave high one moment and then down on the bottom of the lake

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in another moment. But I like what Job did. Job just rent his clothes and he placed ashes on his head and Job instead of asking why and cursing and and going in the fits, Job just began to worship God. "Naked I came and naked I "Blessed be the name of the Lord." That's what Job did in the midst of his crisis,

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in the midst of his tragedy, his situation, and if that was not enough, if that was not enough, Job's even his own health was affected, because he began to receive boils and sores all over his body. And not only that, but then his wife came to him, the one you figured might be with me through thick and thin,

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and he expected that out of his wife, that she was going to be right there by his side. I've lost everything, I'm sick as I don't know what, but I got my baby right here next to me. And she turns to Job and says, "Why don't you curse God and just died. Job was in a particularly bad situation. All of this has happened to

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Job and so he sits there in the midst of this problem and his friends who are far off hear about what has happened to him and they come to visit with him and they came and for seven days they just sat there and watched Job mourn. But then they got into a conversation, a dialogue, and with one of his friends, I believe it was

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Bildad, that he began to talk with him and have a discourse with him that we find this particular statement being rendered. And J. Vernon McGee says it's probably one of the greatest statements in the Bible, that in the midst of all of the tragedy, Job says, "I know my Redeemer lives. I know He lives."

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So when it just doesn't make sense, when the pieces just don't fit together, when there are no answers to the question why, we need to be able to affirm like, "Joe, I know that my Redeemer lives." And that's what I want us to deal with just for a few minutes, knowing that our Redeemer lives. And I want to take

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the title of the message and and dissect it into three parts so that we can we can look at it. The first thing I want us to look at is the fact that the two words and in the beginning of that sentence says I know. I know. Knowing is a key element. I mean you just got to know what what you know. It's you know that

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this this society that we're in is in a society that if you're not in the know then you're gonna get left behind. If you're not into computers, and if you're not on the internet,

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and I pray the Lord that before the end of this year, we'll be on the internet. If you're not gathering information so that you can be in the know,

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you're gonna get left behind. Because technology and information is changing so rapidly that you get left behind. So you need to be in the know.

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Knowing is a very key element. And the other thing about knowing is that you've got to know for yourself. Old folks say every tub has to sit on its own bottom.

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So you can't base it on what they have told you. What mother said and what daddy said, you've got to know for yourself. You can't make it into heaven

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and get there before the judgment and say, my mother, she went to church and my mother was a good Christian and so I am here on my mother's behalf.

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No, you've got to know Jesus Christ for yourself. You've got to have your own personal relationship with him. So it begins with knowing, knowing. When you truly know something, you exude a confidence.

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It's a confidence that you have. Watch. Who can tell me what two plus two is? Langley, what is two plus two?

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Four, are you sure two plus two is four? Are you positive two plus two is four? Yes, she kinda came a little slow with it, but she was positive.

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She knows that, that's something that she knows. And we need to have that within the inside of us that tells us that our Redeemer, that there is a God up above who looks down upon me

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and who cares for me. You got to know that. There can be no guessing about it. I had an instructor in college,

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Dr. Fred Frazier at Prairie View. And Dr. Frazier would be working with us in class and he was a math teacher. And he'd go around the room asking questions

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about what he had up on the board. And he would say, Renfro, give me that answer up there. And if you studied, then he would come down on you. because he wanted you to know what you were talking about.

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And if you gave an answer and you were not sure, he'd make you prove yourself so that he knew that you knew what you knew. And so that's the bottom line is,

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you cannot make it by guessing. You cannot make it by just trying to shake and fool people. You've got to make it by knowing. You know for yourself, Job affirms the fact

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that it's not going right. I'm confused at what's going on with my life, but I know one thing, I know that my Redeemer lives. I don't care what his friends were telling him at the time,

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trying to explain to him, Job, just why you're in this situation. Job says, "I know, I know my Redeemer lives." C.A. Tenley in his verse puts it,

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beams of heaven as I go through this wilderness below. Guide my feet in peaceful ways. Turn my midnights into days. And Job was in a midnight type situation, see?

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It says, when in darkness I would grope. You're reaching for answers. He says, faith always sees a star of hope. And as soon from life, grief, and dangers,

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I shall be free someday. But then the Course says, I do not know. Now this is one thing I don't know. I don't know how long it's gonna be.

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Or just what the future holds for me. But this one thing I do know. That if Jesus goes with me. Knowing, knowing, knowing is a faith thing.

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Knowing is a faith thing. But then if we get that down, I know. The second part of that sentence, the next two words says, my redeemer.

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My redeemer. Looking at that word redeemed, it means to buy back something. to pay off a debt or to restore something back

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to its original position. In the Hebrew in this particular text, the word redeemer or redeem is meaning vindication. Job is saying, I will be vindicated.

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I know I'm a just and upright man. And I know that I was a praying man and I've done everything that God has asked me to do. I've offered sacrifices for my children

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because they may have sinned somewhere down the line. So I made sure I offered sacrifices for my children. I didn't live as the heathens live. So I don't understand why, why it's all happening to me.

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But I know I'm gonna be vindicated. I will be vindicated. But for us as believers, our redemption means that somebody has to buy us back.

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Somebody needs to pay our debt. Somebody needs to restore us to our former position. restore and buy us back from what? Sin. Sin. Because of sin we have fallen into death. It's sort of like credit cards. Pastor talked about having credit cards

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and not knowing how to use them properly. And if you don't use that card right, as he stated, you'll find yourself falling deeper and deeper into death. And that's That's what sin has done for us. We can't escape sin.

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We can live a perfect and upright life as best we can, but when we're not even thinking about doing something wrong, we're still wrong in the eyesight of God. So we can't help but sin. We are sinful creatures, but by the grace of God, we are saved sinners.

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And so because that sin is upon us and that debt is upon us, I need somebody to pay off my debt. And I don't need somebody just to pay the minimum balance on my debt. I need somebody to pay it off And so here we find Jesus Christ

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our Redeemer He satisfies the requirement of the Mosaic Law See the Mosaic Law says that if you have a Redeemer if there's to be a Redeemer They have to be next of kin

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They have to be your kinfolk, all your family people down there. If somebody was in debt and in problems, they'd have to come to a next of kin to help bail them out of the situation. So that was one requirement.

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And then the other requirement of sin is that, in Hebrews it puts us, there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. So you need to have the shedding of blood to pay off the debt. And Jesus Christ handled both of those requirements.

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Because if I believe in him, I've developed a relationship with him. The word says if I believe on him, then I become a son of God. And if I'm a son of God, and Jesus is the son of God, then that makes him my elder brother. Then that makes him kin to me.

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So Jesus can be my next of kin. And because of what he did on Calvary, and the blood he shed on Calvary, the blood washes all away my sinful stains. So I can see that in Jesus Christ I've been redeemed. I've been redeemed and now that I know I've been redeemed I can say I am

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redeemed. I've been bought with a price because Jesus paid it all on Calvary. He didn't leave any debt but he paid it all through his blood. I know my Redeemer and the last part of that sentence says that he lives. He lives. We don't serve a dead God. No we don't serve a dead God. Some folks may serve a dead God.

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They're worshiping dead wood that has been printed into paper with dead presidents printed on them. There's some folk who do worship dead gods. They're worshiping minerals that have been dug out of the ground and you can form it into iron and shape it into a nice moving machine that runs but if you

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don't put any gas in it then it won't run or do anything. But there are folks who worship dead gods. There are folk who worship wood that has been formed and shaped into a mighty magnificent structure that we can live in but but if you don't take care of it it will rot and die just like

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everything else. But there are folks who worship a dead God. But I serve a risen Savior who's in the world today. I know that he is living no matter what men may say. I know I serve a risen Savior. How you know he's alive? Well the Word tells me. Four gospel writers, all of them said that upon the first day of

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the week when Mary and the other women came to the sepulchre, they came and looked in and they didn't see anybody. They saw that the tomb was empty. Now because the tomb was empty that tells me that he got up just like he said he did. But so that he proved that he met his disciples and he let them see him

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and handled him and he even sat down and ate fish and bread with them so that they could see that he was alive again. So the word tells me that my Redeemer is living. The record says that he is living. So that if there's anything that you need to hang on to in the midst of pain, in the midst of suffering, in the midst of

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heartache and trial and trouble, it's the fact that Jesus lives. And because he lives, we ought to have some hope. Early part of Job in that 14th chapter he says there is hope of a tree that has been cut down because it'll spring up again with a little water it'll grow again there is hope when our hope lies in a

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risen Savior oh I know he lives today because he has a way of walking with you he has a way of just talking with you and you begin to know that that there's something on the inside that links me up with him and I know that he lives. I can look outside and the birds flying around in the air, the seasons are

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changing, we get rain every now and then. That's because he lives. He lives. I know my Redeemer lives. Now I can put all this together on paper for you. I can even point to it in the scripture, but you've got to know it and personalize it for yourself. I can only tell you about me and how I know he lives in my

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life. See I know he lives because he got me up this morning and he started me on my way. It wasn't the clock, it was the law of Jesus that woke me up this morning and I had on my mind to come to worship him this morning. That's why I know he lives, but then I got in a car and I drove 20 miles

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from Round Rock to Austin and I didn't have a mishap. The car didn't turn over I know he lives somebody was driving the highway last night and they're not here but but this morning he allowed me to make it here and I know he lives see see I know I've seen what he can do he took a man my father and and

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with a blue-collar job put three sons through school and what it put for if the other fourth one would have stayed in school but but he put all of us through school and never never ever got laid off and because of that fact I know he lived and we have never we've never ever went without anything my mother was always

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able to put something on the table can set your feet under the table cornbread and beans and and all of that and because she was from Louisiana we we always had rice so so for us to have mashed potatoes for us to have mashed potatoes was a delicacy but but she always had something to provide for us

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and when it was in the budget we were able to get some Bluebell ice cream. I know, I know my Redeemer lives but if you're sitting in a situation like Joe let me tell you he lives. I got an uncle who lost two sons before they turned the age of 30 and I wonder how did Uncle Lester and Elena go through seeing two

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sons in the prime of their lives, burying two sons, but I never saw them with their head hung down. I always saw them looking to the hills from which cometh their help. I saw them leaning and depending on Jesus because they knew that their redeemer lived and I know today that if I put my faith in him, if I put my trust

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in him, I know that he will come in right on time. Job says I can't figure it out. I don't know what's going on, but I know this one thing. I may be down now but I'm not out. You may be laughing at me and pointing your fingers at me, but that's all right. He's gonna put me black in my rightful place. See my Redeemer has

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bought me back. My Redeemer has paid my price. My Redeemer has restored me and now I know that he lives and it's because of that that I serve him. It's because of that that I lift him up and if you are in the same situation you just need to hold on. Job says I'm gonna wait until my change comes. I'm gonna

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wait until it comes and I will hold on and I will hold out because I know my Redeemer lives. If there's one this morning who wants to hook up with such a a Redeemer, then you need to try Jesus today. You need to try. Pastor, I know it ain't always been easy. 29 years. Everybody didn't always go along with

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your vision, go along with your plan, confuse you, make you disappointed, talk about you behind your back but I know he couldn't have made 29 years without being able to say I know I know I know I know I know I know that my Redeemer lives.

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If there's one, would you come? Yes. If there's one, would you come? Yes.

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Accept him as your Lord and Savior. Will you come? Will you come? Yes.

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Come. [MUSIC] Calvary was the marketplace where Jesus purchased my sin. Here you come.

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He struggled up the hill and had no money to give. ♪ And though rugged cross was laid on him ♪ ♪ He exchanged his life for all my sins ♪ ♪ I've been redeemed ♪

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♪ Redeemed ♪ ♪ By the precious blood of the Lamb ♪ ♪ Although Jesus went to Calvary ♪ ♪ And purchased all of my sins ♪

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♪ I still must bear a cross ♪ ♪ If I expect to wear a crown ♪ ♪ Alone had he not redeemed himself for me ♪ ♪ I wouldn't have life eternally ♪

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♪ I've been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb ♪ ♪ I've been redeemed ♪ ♪ By the precious blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ He paid the price for my sins ♪

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♪ I've been redeemed ♪ ♪ By the precious blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ For my sense of ♪ ♪ Calvary ♪

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♪ He built life for me ♪ ♪ And now I have a right to ♪ ♪ The tree of life I can redeem ♪ I've been redeemed by the precious blood of the lamb.

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I've been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. He paid the price for my sin. I've been redeemed by the precious blood of the lamb. ♪ To me lay the price for my sins ♪

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♪ I have a ring ♪ ♪ It is life for me ♪ ♪ And now I have the right to ♪ ♪ The tree of life I will redeem ♪

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♪ By the precious blood of the Lamb ♪ ♪ Redeem ♪ ♪ Redeem ♪ ♪ My soul has been redeemed ♪

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♪ I've been washed in the blood ♪ ♪ My soul has been redeemed ♪ ♪ I'm saved ♪ ♪ I'm saved ♪

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♪ My soul has been redeemed ♪ ♪ Redeemed ♪ ♪ Redeemed ♪ ♪ My soul has been redeemed ♪

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♪ Redeemed ♪ ♪ Redeemed ♪ ♪ My soul has been redeemed ♪ - Amen, amen.

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(audience applauding) Amen, let us all say amen. I don't know about you, but I do believe that Reverend Renfro knows that his redeemer lives.

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We have certainly heard a word from heaven. Let us all say amen. Let the celebration continue. We'll have our final words from our speaker this morning.

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- I'd like to ask that the Williams would proceed now to the rear of the sanctuary, that Usher would come and escort our pastor and his wife to the rear of the sanctuary.

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I don't remember if we had any birthdays, but if we had any birthdays, you would also go to the rear of the sanctuary. [ Pause ]

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If the pastor's family would also like to go to the rear, everybody would like to say hello and greet you all in a more personal way. Would you please bow? I heavenly father, thank you for what our eyes have seen, what our

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that our ears have heard what our hearts have felt. Father God, help us to know whatever life brings, our Redeemer lives. And he lives within each and every one of our hearts.

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Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before his presence, to the only wise God be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, amen.

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[Music] [Music] ♪ The Lord is confident upon you ♪ ♪ And if you feel ♪

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♪ And if you feel ♪ ♪ And if you feel ♪ ♪ And if you feel ♪ ♪ The Lord will make his face to shine upon you ♪

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♪ And be gracious ♪ ♪ And be gracious unto you ♪ ♪ And be gracious ♪ ♪ The Lord be gracious ♪

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♪ Gracious unto you ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪

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♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪

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♪ Amen ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]