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It is good to draw near to God. Put your trust in the Lord God and declare all his marvelous works. Let us pray. Father of all mercies, we thank you for every expression of your grace. Especially We are grateful for this, the beginning of months, for the opportunity to make a new start in a new year.

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We ask for your guidance, for your presence, for your power. We thank you for your forgiveness and for the fact that you do give us a clean sheet on which we may write a new history. and use us in this service we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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May we turn to hymn number 234, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah. May we stand as we sing. [ Music ] ♪ Gladly over, gladly over ♪

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♪ Here in earth as heaven lay ♪ ♪ I'll be gone, though I'm mighty ♪ ♪ Only with thy love, O Mary ♪ ♪ Ever and may ♪

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♪ Be with me till I'm much no more ♪ [Music] [MUSIC] [Music]

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♪ Keep me, Lord, while you lead me through ♪ ♪ Strong deliverer ♪ ♪ He has healed my sin and shield ♪ ♪ Strong deliverer ♪

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♪ He has healed my sin and shield ♪ ♪ When I tread the paths of Jordan ♪ ♪ Hear my anxious wishful song ♪ ♪ Mary, through the woods, fair and pure ♪

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♪ Let me see my baby's song ♪ ♪ Strong and brave, dear ♪ ♪ I'll never give to thee ♪ ♪ Strong and brave, dear ♪

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♪ What will ever be to me ♪ - Our scripture, the epistle to the Ephesians, the third chapter, in the first 12 verses. For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,

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for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you would, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words,

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whereby when ye read, or rather when ye read, may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, and partakers

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of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a prisoner according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see

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is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have

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boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. This is our time of prayer together. I want that you this morning will remain in your seats and that each one of you will join hands where you are to the person next to you as an expression of the fellowship which is ours in prayer as together we approach the throne of

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grace as God's family this chain of prayer this opportunity to engage in dialogue with the the Heavenly Father to be able to say that I must tell Jesus, for we go to God through Jesus, we seek his guidance, we express our thanksgiving for having been spared to begin again.

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So let us join hands with those next to us as we pray. It's a wonderful privilege. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear.

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What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer. Everything. God our Father, here we are again in your house. By your grace we have come safely thus far.

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You've led us on the journey which has been completed that we might begin again. And as we start anew, we thank you for that privilege that always comes to us in life to begin again and again. Help us, oh God, to discard the failures of yesterday and to approach the future with

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openness. Help us to be better. Help us to become possessed with a divine discontent that we may seek to become more and more like you.

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Bless each family that is represented here. We pray especially for those who are bereaved today, who've lost loved ones. into them that comfort that enables them to understand that you are always with them even when they pass through the very shadows of the valley of death.

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Bless those who are suffering from sickness. And as we go on this journey, oh God, we pray that you would not only bless the family that you have put here at Ebenezer, that you would bless your church the world over. That as we look at our world and note the discard, the disillusionment, help us to put

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our trust in you and to exemplify that dedication that will manifest that we are workers together with you toward the coming of the day when your kingdom will be seen in its fullness. Lord God our Father have mercy upon us and bless us and use us always to your glory now and forever we ask this in Jesus name amen

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[ Background noise ] [ Music ] Good morning. The Ebenezer Baptist Church would like to wish its members, and if there are any visitors

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in the house, a very productive new year. If you would, please conduct yourselves in accordance with this morning's announcements. We'd be very appreciative. Are there any announcements to be brought to the announcing clerk?

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Okay. Thank you. [ Background Sounds ] Are there any visitors in the house? Thank you.

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[ Background Sounds ] (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music)

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

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♪ Give me a clean heart ♪ ♪ So I may serve thee ♪ ♪ O face my woes ♪ ♪ So that I may be used by thee ♪

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♪ For I have left my home ♪ ♪ Worthy ♪ ♪ Of all these blessings ♪ ♪ Give me a green heart ♪

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♪ And a fatherly heart ♪ ♪ I'm not asking ♪ ♪ For the riches of this world ♪ ♪ I'm not asking ♪

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♪ For thy name to know my name ♪ ♪ Give me Lord, give me Lord, the King of all ♪ ♪ There is no other King ♪ ♪ Give me a King, Lord ♪

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♪ That I'll follow Thee ♪ I am floating. Sometimes I am down. Sometimes I am almost to the ground.

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♪ Please give me, Lord, give me, Lord, a clean heart ♪ ♪ That I may follow Thee ♪ ♪ Give me a clean heart ♪ ♪ And I'll follow Thee ♪

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♪ Give me a free heart ♪ ♪ So I may serve thee ♪ ♪ Lord, fix my heart ♪ ♪ So that I may be used by thee ♪

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♪ For I'm not worthy ♪ ♪ Of all these blessings ♪ ♪ Give me a new life ♪ ♪ And I'll follow Thee ♪

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Come now for our worship. I'd like for you to be in your places at the end of the song. So if you'll come forward in the future, try to be here at the end of the song. May we bow our heads.

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Bless us, O Lord, in our giving that we may give of ourselves and of our substance, recognizing that what we have is only entrusted to us. We are merely stewards of your possessions. In this spirit of love and in the spirit of sacrifice,

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so let us give this day, we pray, amen. Let us all give according to how the Lord has prospered us. You have in your hand a report of the stewardship of our church for this past month. It is a report of the Lord's treasury here at Ebenezer.

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[ Music ] [MUSIC] ♪ Is coming this way ♪ ♪ Coming this way ♪

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♪ The palm tree shouts ♪ ♪ The palm tree shouts ♪ ♪ Through the storm ♪ ♪ And through the cold ♪

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♪ My blood ♪ ♪ Has already been poured ♪ ♪ Hear Jesus say ♪ ♪ Can't you hear Jesus say ♪

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♪ You take all ♪ ♪ Take all ♪ ♪ Take all ♪ ♪ Take all ♪

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♪ You better take all ♪ ♪ You better take all ♪ ♪ Life long is coming ♪ ♪ Life long is coming ♪

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♪ Coming this way ♪ ♪ Coming to stay ♪ ♪ The power of shouts ♪ ♪ The power of shouts ♪

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♪ Through us all ♪ ♪ And through the cold ♪ ♪ My fly is grown ♪ ♪ Has already been drawn ♪

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♪ Can't you hear Jesus say ♪ ♪ Hear Jesus say ♪ ♪ You take all ♪ ♪ Take all ♪

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You better take hold. Take hold. You better take hold. Our scripture serves as a basis for the message.

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It's found in the book of the prophet Isaiah, the 60th chapter, the first three verses. "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples. But the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, and the nations

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shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. subject of the message, signs and designs for the future. Signs and designs for the future. We are in the midst of the epiphany season, the time celebrating the manifestation of

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of our Lord, the appearance of the divine glory. The prophetic utterance of an unknown prophet whom we have chosen to call Second Isaiah calls attention to the signs of the future.

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The prophet's audience is concerned about the future. They want to know what's ahead. What does tomorrow hold? At the beginning of the year we look for signs to indicate what's ahead in 1980. What is in store for us in the new decade of the elegant 80s. This is the prophetic word. It is a

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proclamation of salvation. Arise, shine, for thy light is come. The future is covered with darkness, shut out from the light by thick clouds. There is darkness. There is also light. There is evening. There is morning. In the darkness of Babylon, in the long night of captivity, the light of hope and the light of freedom shines.

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Separated from the realization of their dreams in an alien country, the Prophet speaks to the exiles and proclaims the dawn of a new epoch, a new age, a new day. Arise, shine, for thy light is come. Let bygones be bygones. The past is shut, the future is open arise shine the earth is covered with darkness Jerusalem shares this

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darkness in a world groping in uncertainty concerning the future there comes this prophetic proclamation of salvation arise shine for thy light is come. This word is addressed to exiles, to captives, to persons who are not where they want to be. Exiles dwelling in Babylon but they want to go to Jerusalem.

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This word is addressed to our world, to all of us, for we are not where we ought to be. We are not where God wants us to be. He has a divine design for all of us.

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Jerusalem is our place. There is a place for everybody to be somebody. And so we must make that journey from existence to living, to really living our lives, the journey from non-being to being.

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In the course of time, these exiles from Jerusalem have lost their way. They have become prisoners in a land of darkness. But darkness does not last always. Darkness disappears with the coming of light.

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Now is the time of salvation. Arise, shine, for thy light is come. Darkness is ended. The morning is come.

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Jerusalem has suffered defeat, but the night is over. Let us not sleep. In the dear dead days of yesterday, the night has ended.

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We've had our disappointments, our failures, our successes, but they belong to the night which has passed. The old order is gone. Jerusalem has been down and out slumbering in the night,

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helpless and immobile, a victim of darkness, death but now comes the word arise shine for your light is come now there is light this is the new sign which the Prophet proclaims in a land of many signs. Babylon is a land of superstition. Shall we ask the astrologers of Babylon

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to tell us what is ahead in 1980? Many years ago George Oswald wrote 1984 in in which he gave his pronostications concerning the darkness which would hover over us. Big Brother would be watching us continually. Such predictions are like a nightmare.

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They do not equip us for the journey. They only disturb us concerning what may happen to us. Shall we consult the 12 signs of the zodiac? According to the Babylonians, these signs control human life.

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Each one presides over a certain part of the body and has the power to cure disease. Do these signs control our health, our happiness and prosperity? We say, "May you have a good year, a happy new year. May you have health, happiness, and prosperity."

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But do these signs control our health, our happiness, and our prosperity? They tell us of the weather, we say. They tell us when to plant crops. They tell us when to do what to our bodies.

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What is my horoscope for 1980? is yours you may ask. According to the Zodiac I'm under the sign of Pisces. This sign controls what will happen to me in 1980 some say. And so in this sense one is covered by darkness until the dawn of each day and then one consults

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the horoscope in order to govern oneself accordingly. If this is true then our destiny is in our stars. Let us listen again to the prophetic proclamation, a proclamation that declares that we are no longer prisoners in Babylon. Arise, Arise, shine, for your light has come.

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Get rid of the superstitious beliefs that thwart, threaten, and blight the future. Arise, shine, for thy light has come. Our destiny is not in our stars.

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Julius Caesar's, Julius Caesar Shakespeare has Cassius to say to Brutus that our fault dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings. The fault is not in the sign under which we happen to have been born.

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The fault is not in our stars that we are down and out or that we may sleep the sleep of death. The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves. The signs of the zodiac are based on the moon and the moon has no light of its own. It is wholly dependent on the light of the Sun. Its light is the reflected light of the Sun

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And our life is dependent on that light which shines forth from the sun. Our health is dependent upon the light of the sun. Our prosperity is dependent upon the light of the sun. Our happiness is dependent upon our relationship to that light which comes from the sun.

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The sun is the source of light. Arise, shine, for the sun of righteousness has come. Light is a practical thing. Green leaves turn into vegetables by photosynthesis and through photosynthesis animals happen through the vegetables. The vegetables somehow turn into meat

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through the geological processes. Green leaves may be turned into coal and petroleum. By heating one side of the world while the other is in cool darkness, light drives the winds.

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It picks us up in a certain way. Water may be picked up from the sea and taken up and made rain. arise, shine. This is some of the practical uses of light, that somehow this light that shines upon us is with us as we face the concrete issues of our lives. Oh, it's a precious thing, light is.

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As we depend upon it, light somehow enables us to exist from day to day in a most meaningful way. Light provides us with that life-giving energy, and that life-giving energy is somehow a mysterious happening.

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altogether understand it, but we know that it's present, we know that it happens. And that light is a source of joy, it brightens the sky, it creates that kind of appearance of radiance, and it drives away the dismal shadows. Light feels good to our winter pale bodies, light, the beams of light, the sunshine brings smiles to sad

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faces, drives away the clouds. Light is a source of joy. And so the good word for this moment is arise, shine, for your light has come. This is the sign for those who are in search of a usable future. This is the manifestation of the divine design. The night has passed. The past is over. The night has gone. The morning has come. Arise. Let ill will, let

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prejudice, let bigotry, let jealousy, let all of these vanish with the night and and let the light shine in our lives. Accept this light as the center of our lives. There are two forces that express our response to this light.

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One is a centrifugal force which flees from the center, and the other is a centripetal force that travels toward the center. One flees from the center and the other force flees toward the center. One travels from it, the other travels toward it.

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But those who flee from the center travel in the wrong direction. They fail to follow the sign which is the design for their future. Those who travel toward the center follow God's design. So let us look.

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Let us look upward and welcome the dawn of the new day. Arise, shine, give God glory. Sometimes our lives may not have been so pleasant in the past,

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but here comes a good word that our life can be made new, that our life under the sunshine of God's grace, being a reflection of that light which he gives, that light that shines in the darkness

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because no darkness can put it out or rise, get up from a bed of inaction and indecision. And for those who are to continue that journey who are already on the right path,

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there still comes the word to make a new start a fresh beginning for the night is past and a new age is dawn the past is prologue now is the time for act one scene one the curtain is raised the stage is set the players are on the and now is the time to speak and act your part. Arise, shine for thy light is

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come. The light goes before us and shines on our pathway directing us in the future's broadening way. So as the prophet speaks to the exiled so does he speak to us today. We are still on a journey not where we want to be not where we ought to be but let us go forth trusting in God's strength that God has

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prepared for all of us. Jerusalem, Jerusalem our hopes, Jerusalem the fulfillment of our dreams, Jerusalem is there. Yes there are clouds of darkness but the light shines. Arise. Be done with lethargy. Arise and face the future. Let Let us go forth trusting in his strength for those of us who are on this journey toward

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the new Jerusalem also have a certain confidence along life's way that that light about which the prophet speaks. That light has shined in our hearts. That light has caused us to come from darkness into light and that light is with us all along life's way and there comes the reassurance It is a blessed assurance.

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Arise, shine, for thy light is come. Clouds of darkness, but a word of hope, a word of encouragement. Our forefathers had this experience

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in the darkness of captivity. They carried many burdens. They were in Babylon, Babylonian captivity. But in the midst of Babylonian captivity,

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there was a certain assurance with the head. It was the assurance that comes when we embrace the living faith. It's the kind of assurance that gives us strength no matter what may be the burden and they had that assurance they had it and so they could

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have a blessed fellowship even in the midst of the darkness because there was a light shining in the darkness and they sang let us break bread together on our knees in a fellowship of suffering yet let us break bread together on our knees. Then when I fall on my knees with my face to the rising Sun journeying toward

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the Sun. With the darkness behind me, with the past behind me and a future open before me and yet with a prayer in my heart when I fall on my knees with my face to the rising Sun. Oh Lord have mercy if you please." This is a good word. It's a good word for you and me. Right now it's a proclamation of salvation.

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Arise, shine, for thy light is come. This light is the eternal light that shines in the darkness because no darkness can ever put it out. Sister Lisa Alexander sings now "Beams of Heaven" and this is a time of commitment. It's an invitation to Christian discipleship. It's the opportunity to to respond to the

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challenge to arise and shine for thy light is come. We invite you now to come forward. [ Music ] (piano music)

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

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(piano music) (piano music) [MUSIC] (piano music)

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[ Music ] ♪ Beams of hay ♪ ♪ Thin as I go ♪ ♪ Through this wilderness ♪

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♪ With love guide my feet ♪ ♪ In peaceful ways ♪ ♪ Turn my mind ♪ ♪ I'd sing ♪

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♪ Today's ♪ ♪ When in the dark ♪ ♪ The sun would grow old ♪ ♪ Faith always sees a star ♪

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♪ Of hope ♪ ♪ And soon ♪ ♪ From all ♪ ♪ Life's griefs and dangers ♪

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♪ I shall be free ♪ ♪ Some, someday ♪ ♪ Burdens now ♪ ♪ May crush me down ♪

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♪ Disappointments all around ♪ ♪ Troubles speak in mournful sound ♪ ♪ Sorrow through a tear ♪ ♪ A tear-stained cry ♪

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♪ But there is a God ♪ ♪ That rules up above ♪ With hand of power and heart of love. And if I am right, he will find my battle.

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I shall have peace someday. I do not know how long it will be. ♪ Not what the future holds for me ♪ ♪ But this I know ♪

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♪ Please don't leave me ♪ ♪ I shall get home ♪ ♪ Someday ♪ day.

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When we come to the table of the Lord we come remembering that we have been captives of the night, but through his grace we have been ushered into the marvelous light. Now we bow our heads. Gracious God our Father we thank you for the privilege of communing at your table.

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We seek your forgiveness and we ask that your spirit may possess us as we rededicate ourselves to doing your will and walking in your way. We thank you

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that through your grace expressed in Jesus Christ, we have that bread which strengthens us for the journey and and we have that wine which gives us the joy along the way. Bless and consecrate us anew this day. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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[Music] [inaudible] [MUSIC PLAYING] [Music]

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[inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] The communion now, would you raise your hands?

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[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]