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which we have received by your grace. And we praise you for the new life you give us in Jesus Christ. We thank you for the love of our families and friends and for the treasure you have stored in every human life.

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We thank you for the beauty of your creation. Especially Lord, we thank you for the fellowship of faith in your church here at Ebenezer. Holy God of mercy, we know of the healing in your touch.

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We know that all you have to do is speak, and it is so. Therefore we offer our prayers for the needs of others and ourselves and commit ourselves to serve each other as Christ has served us. Bless those among us who are sick and suffering, those who are bereaved, those who are lonely,

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those who are burdened. us our eyes to be open to the needs of our fellow brothers and sisters here in our church and community so that your spirit of compassion runs from heart to heart and from home to home.

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Great and powerful God, you are victorious over all that would destroy or harm and you brighten the lives of those who need you. In the name of Christ, we pray for those who are without hope, for the poor and forsaken, for the hungry, for those, Lord, who are homeless, for those in prison, and for those who are

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outcast or persecuted, for those who struggle with addictions. Loving God, we pray for those who don't know you in the pardon of their sins. Let us be vessels you can use to carry the light of truth to those who live in darkness. Eternal God, we praise your name that we have been given strength and abilities to serve

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your purpose in this world today. That we have been given opportunities to give as we have received. us to cherish the gifts that surround us, the gifts of freedom and the means of justice. Lord we humbly pray for our nation that this country will not take our blessings for granted.

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We pray that the light of truth will shine throughout this world so that all may be led to a greater understanding of and respect for your marvelous ways. For your ways, oh Lord are perfect. Holy God we confess to you that we have not loved as we should. We have not loved one another as we should. We profess that we are Christians and we love your ways

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Lord but we miss many opportunities to witness to those in need of your grace. We sometimes We must prefer the ways of the world to the wisdom that you have given us to live by. Lord, have mercy on us.

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Forgive our sinful ways and heal our brokenness. Set us free from all that enslaves us. Give us the will and the courage to live kingdom lives so that all will know that we are new creatures in Christ.

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And gracious master, We ask that you bless your children here at Ebeneezer. Guide us with your Holy Spirit. Open our hearts and minds so that we may hear

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the word of life and be renewed by your power. Bless our pastor and his wife to be guided in all things by your wisdom. And oh God, give us all our daily bread

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so that we may be filled with your goodness and mercy all the days of our lives. We ask all this trusting in the grace and the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who with God and the Holy Spirit are worthy of honor, glory, and praise now and forever.

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Amen. [ Music ] ♪ How lovely is thy dwelling place ♪ ♪ O Lord of hosts ♪

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♪ How lovely is thy dwelling place ♪ ♪ Thy dwelling place ♪ ♪ O Lord of all ♪ ♪ How lovely ♪

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♪ Thy dwelling place ♪ ♪ O Lord of all ♪ ♪ Oh, how lovely is thy dwelling place ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord of hosts ♪

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♪ We've never, never prayed for thee ♪ ♪ In your sanctuary ♪ ♪ Just like a sparrow ♪ ♪ Out in the meadow ♪

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♪ A day of temple ♪ ♪ Is your only pleasure ♪ ♪ Oh, holy ♪ ♪ Is your dwelling place ♪

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♪ Oh, Lord of all ♪ ♪ You reap everything ♪ ♪ In your sanctuary ♪ ♪ Hush my little sparrow ♪

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♪ I will be your devil ♪ ♪ I'll be your devil ♪ ♪ Before the world forgets ♪ ♪ How lovely ♪

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♪ Is your dwelling place ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ [choral singing] Name, O God, for every expression of your goodness and your bounty.

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Bless us now as we share freely of self and substance in the strong and perfect name of Jesus Christ. Amen. [Music] [Singing] ♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ [MUSIC] [choir singing] [choir singing]

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[Singing] ♪ Since I lay, since I lay my burdens down ♪ ♪ [piano] ♪ ♪ Glory, glory, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Glory, glory, hallelujah ♪

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♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Glory, glory ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪

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♪ I've been resting from my labor ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ I've been resting from my labor ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪

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♪ I've been resting from my labor ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ I've been resting from my labor ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪

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♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Lord, I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Lord, I laid my burden down ♪

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♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ All my troubles now are over ♪

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♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ All my troubles now are over ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ All my troubles now are over ♪

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♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ All my troubles ♪ ♪ Now are over ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burden down ♪

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♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪

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♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burdens down ♪ ♪ Lord, I'm feeling so much better ♪

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♪ Since I laid my burdens down ♪ ♪ Lord, I'm feeling so much better ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burdens down ♪ ♪ Lord, I'm feeling so much better ♪

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♪ Since I laid my, my burdens down ♪ ♪ Lord, I'm feeling so much better ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burdens down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burdens down ♪

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♪ Lord, I laid my burdens down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burdens down ♪ ♪ I laid my burdens down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burdens down ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my burdens down ♪ ♪ Every round goes high and higher ♪ ♪ Since I laid those burdens down ♪

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♪ Every round goes high and higher ♪ ♪ Since I laid those burdens down ♪ ♪ Every round goes high and higher ♪ ♪ Since I laid those burdens down ♪

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♪ Every round goes high and higher ♪ ♪ Since I laid those burdens down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪

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♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Yes I did, I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪

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♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Don't you know I laid my burden down ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid ♪

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♪ My burden ♪ ♪ Down ♪ [Pause] The basis of the message is Exodus, the 14th chapter, the 21st through the 31st verses.

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Liberation is an ongoing struggle. It's a journey from Egypt to Canaan. It's a journey from bondage to freedom. It's a journey from darkness to light.

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It's a journey from poverty to plenty. It is a journey from war to peace. There are many stations along the way. When Israel left Egypt, she was soon confronted by a barrier

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that was considered impossible to overcome. There was the Red Sea to cross 600,000 pilgrims who had spent 430 years in Egyptian slavery faced this

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challenge That was a serious problem The situation was made worse by the fact that Pharaoh had changed his mind

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about letting the people go. He and his army were in hot pursuit of this multitude that they might force them to return

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to Egypt. Now they had been entangled by the wilderness and the sea, and now there is Pharaoh's army in the background.

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They are terrified. They were just beyond the border when they were faced with this danger. They were terrified. And so they cried to the Lord some of the most desperate prayers, prayed in the midst

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of a crisis. After calling on the Lord, they found fault with Moses, the God-appointed leader. They had a short memory. had already seen how God had manifested himself in miracles in the seven or the ten plagues,

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rather, in Egypt, and the victory that they had experienced over each one. In the midst of terror, people resort to panic. The coach of the University of Texas football team was advising his players, "Do not panic, because when you panic, you're inclined to mess up."

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He wanted them to relax and be calm and play the game as fun in order to be victorious. Well they panicked and they began to complain to Moses, "Why have you brought us out here to die in this wilderness? there no graves in Egypt? We could have been funeralized there with some dignity.

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Out here you brought us where there is a wilderness. We did not volunteer to be martyrs in the cause of freedom. We do not wish to have our bodies fed to wild beasts out here in the wilderness, but there are spiritual resources available. Whatever may be the intensity of the human struggle, Moses said to the people,

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Fear not. Be not afraid. Don't be alarmed. Be calm. Be confident. The people were yearning for a return of yesterday. They did not wish to face the challenges of today, And neither were they at the time seriously concerned about the hope of tomorrow.

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Yesterday had a familiar agenda. They could get up, they knew what it was, go to work, work from sunup to sundown. They knew the agenda of yesterday. And that was what they had yearned to be delivered from.

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And so many of us yearn for the return of the dead, dead days of yesterday. There are those who cry for the return of yesterday who wish to avoid the rigors of freedom.

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They want the comforts of the known rather than risk themselves in facing the unknown. But Pharaoh is gaining on them. They hear the rumbling chariots. They see the swords glistening in air, and that from which they are seeking to take flight

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is catching up with them. They hear the cries coming up more and more for the return of yesterday. And so they begin to place blame, blame, blame on Moses. First they cry to God and then they go to Moses and they place blame on him. Whenever things aren't going well we try to find someone to blame. We talk about our educational system we say it's

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it's the children and the children say it's the teachers. The teachers say it's the superintendent. The superintendent says it's the Board of Education and on and on it goes, placing blame. So they cry to Moses, they cry to God, they yearn for the return of yesterday. But this is the word that is addressed to the people.

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Fear not! Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now this is the word which they are to accept, the word which they are to follow. Death is what they feared most. They were alarmed, they were terrified, they were in fear of of death. And the word comes from heaven to them. Fear not. Do not be afraid

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concerning the immediate. Fear not. This is the word. Face the impending violence of Pharaoh's army. Fear not. Do not fear the possibility of being swallowed up in the waters of the Red Sea. Be calm, have faith, fear not. Fear not. I am thy shield, saith the Lord. This is the word that Hannah hears, fear not. You will have a son. This is the

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word that comes to Zachariah, fear not. This is the word that comes to Mary, the handmaiden of the Lord, fear not. Fear not! Stand still. The Lord will fight the battle if you just keep still. You don't have to command. We don't have the command of the resources that that will match those of Pharaoh.

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Pharaoh has superior weapons. You don't have the swords, you don't have the spears, you don't have the shields to contend against the Egyptians.

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They have the chariots, they have the cavalry and the infantry. You're no match for Pharaoh and his army. But yet the word is fear not.

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So often we panic in the face of danger there were people who looked out and saw the burning of the of the twin towers and and they jumped from Many floors up they panicked they jumped out of the window But the word is fear not

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The divine command is to stand still Fear not, Moses tells the people. Strike camp. Raise your staff high.

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Stretch out your hand over the sea and watch the waters separate, is the word that comes from God to Moses. So Pharaoh has his weapons of warfare, but God has superior weapons. And Moses speaks to the waters that are there, and the waters stand still. The waters may roar and be troubled, but God is able to calm the raging waters.

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In fact, he makes a way through the waters. He makes it possible for the waters to roll up and become a wall through which his people may walk, and they can walk through the waters. He causes the wind to blow and make it dry so that they don't get any mud on their shoes. the the same waters that

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the Israelites passed through are the waters that destroy the Egyptians and And as you look at this incident you'll notice that God calls the wind we don't control the wind

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the wind The waters we don't control the sea and the also Is able to have a path we can't make a path to the sea

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But there's a path made for the people of all of these things Given by God they are provided by him And it's a mystery how how it occurs Wind, waters, sea, all of these controlled by the eternal and yet God intervenes and

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uses these things, these elements, these things that are beyond our control. God steps in and uses them. He uses nature to work in such a way that it provides a means of deliverance for his people so that there is a path through the waters. They built a bridge across

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the Colorado right near Lamar and I noticed how long it took them. It took them weeks and months to finally get that bridge there. But God creates a bridge, a A means of getting through the waters overnight. All of this occurs while darkness is upon the people.

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So in the midst of your darkness, remember that God is present. He controls the darkness. And in the midst of your confusion, in the midst of your trouble, trouble, in the midst of your sickness, in the midst of your disease, in the midst of

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your discouragement, in the midst of your defeat, remember that God controls the waters. And only God could do this. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the storm.

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So that night God acts. And the children of Israel, as Moses stretches out his hand, they march through the sea on dry land. are blessed by the hand of the Eternal working for their freedom. It seemed for a moment that

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that they were victims of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horses, his cavalry, but now God has made a path through the waters and they walk through the waters. The waters have a wall. One can look at it and it's described here in the scripture that the wall that you could walk, wall on the left and on the right, don't have

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to worry you can walk through here because God has made the way. And they walk through the waters on the path that God has prepared. Isn't it a wonderful thing when God prepares the path? You don't have to worry about how secure it is because God has made it possible for us to walk through the waters.

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But that's not the end of the story. There is an angel. The angel of the Lord goes before them and prepares the way.

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It's a wonderful thing to have the angel of the Lord to go before you. And then when they have walked and followed after the angel, the angel goes behind them.

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And so the angel prepares the way and then protects us. You don't have to watch your back. The angel will do that for you. The angel of the Lord goes behind and before.

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And I like to think of God as walking beside them. Going through the waters and they come safely to the other side. We don't have to worry about how we're gonna make it

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through the waters. Sure there's some waters, raging waters. Sure there is Pharaoh's army behind us, but there is also God

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Who makes a path through the waters, who provides his wind to blow so that we can walk on dry land through the raging waters of the sea. And it's true. You don't just go part of the way. You go all the way through the waters. That's wonderful The psalmist says yeah, no, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

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I will fear no evil for thou art with me Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. So the what the Lord walks With us through the waters Pharaoh rides with his chariot But the Lord

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Protects and provides for his own and it is said that there were 600,000 of them who left Egypt and Every one of them got through the waters but when Pharaoh

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comes Moses is stretched out his arm again and the waters come together and they all drowned The next morning they are washed up on the seashore God provides

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God makes a way as the old people used to say when I was a boy he makes a way out of no way and he leads Where we are to follow if we would enjoy the blessings of freedom. He must appeal to God Not only in one crisis, but he's there for every crisis to appeal to him and he leaves

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He leads we are to follow Sometimes he leads us in the wilderness sometimes he leads us in the valley sometimes he leads us on the mountain top, but We are to follow and shady green pastures

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So rich and so sweet God leads his dear children along Where the waters cool flow bathe the weary ones free

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God leaves his dear children alone Some through the waters some through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the blood

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In the night season and all the day long We come now to extend the invitation To Christian discipleship for those who would

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Follow the leadership of the Spirit of God who would accept him as Lord of your life. We invite you to come To unite with the people of God here at Ebenezer as we say the door is open [snoring]

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[MUSIC] ♪ So rich and so sweet ♪ ♪ God leads his dear children along ♪ ♪ Where the farmers do roam ♪

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♪ Where the weary ones meet ♪ ♪ For he is here to tread the law ♪ ♪ Some through the martyrs ♪ ♪ Some through the blood ♪

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♪ Some through the fire ♪ ♪ Through it all, through the blood ♪ ♪ Some through great sorrow ♪ ♪ But God gives us all ♪

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♪ In the right season ♪ ♪ And all the day long ♪ ♪ Sometimes the world allows you ♪ ♪ Where the sun shines so bright ♪

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♪ But me, just get you to the ball ♪ ♪ Sometimes in the valley ♪ ♪ In darkest of nights ♪ ♪ God leads his dear children along ♪

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♪ The sorrows before us ♪ ♪ Have stayed the longest ♪ ♪ God leads his dear children along ♪ ♪ Alone ♪

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♪ Through race we have conquered ♪ ♪ In peace our home ♪ ♪ What means to dear children ♪ ♪ Alone ♪

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♪ Away from the fire ♪ ♪ Away from the grave ♪ ♪ But peace in His human form ♪ ♪ A ray of Him glory ♪

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♪ In eternity's days ♪ ♪ What need to give to them ♪ ♪ Our Lord ♪ ♪ Some through the water ♪

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♪ Some through the blood ♪ ♪ Some through the fire ♪ [ Music ] [Pause]

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Gracious God, be with us in this journey from Egypt to Canaan. Help us to realize that you're with us in the stations all along the way. The Lord bless you, the Lord keep you, the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you, now and always. Amen. Always. Amen.

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[Silence] [Music] We have come. [Music]

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We have come. ♪ We have come into this house ♪ ♪ Gather in this place ♪ ♪ To worship Christ the Lord ♪

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♪ Why don't you worship him ♪ ♪ Worship him ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord ♪ ♪ So forget about yourself ♪

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♪ Forget about yourself ♪ ♪ Concentrate on Him and worship Him ♪ ♪ So forget about yourself ♪ ♪ So forget about yourself ♪

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♪ Concentrate on Him and worship Him ♪ ♪ So forget about yourself ♪ ♪ So forget about yourself ♪ ♪ Concentrate on Him and worship that son of God ♪

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♪ You ought to worship Him ♪ ♪ As the Lord ♪ (gentle music) [ Music ]

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[MUSIC] ♪ There is no shadow of faith in thee ♪ ♪ Thou who has died for your nations they will know ♪ ♪ That thou hast lived and forever will be ♪

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♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Morning by morning ♪ ♪ Through the changing seas ♪

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♪ All I am needed ♪ ♪ I am not provided ♪ ♪ Great is my faithfulness ♪ ♪ Lord, how do you feed ♪

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♪ Mother and father ♪ [MUSIC] ♪ Done with all nature and man in holiness ♪ ♪ O my great thankfulness, mercy and love ♪

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♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Morning by morning new mercies I see ♪ All I have needed, I have provided.

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Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto thee. I am for sin, and I'll be sad in your hand. Light o'er near presents to cheer on tonight. Strength for today and hope for tomorrow.

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Blessings on my son and brother be mine. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new virtues I see, All I have need of at last will find,

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[Music] [ Silence ]