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[ Silence ] He rocked me in the cradle of his arms When he knew I had been battered and scarred So if he had not been for the Lord on that sky

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Tell me where could I be ♪ Where would I be ♪ ♪ He never left me all alone ♪ ♪ He gave the peace and joy I'd never known ♪

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♪ He answered when I knelt to really pray ♪ ♪ And in victory the Lord brought me his way ♪ ♪ So if it had not been for the Lord on my side ♪ ♪ Tell me where would I be ♪

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♪ Where would I be ♪ ♪ He kept my enemies away ♪ ♪ He let the sun shine through a cloudy day ♪ ♪ He rocked me in the cradle of his arms ♪

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♪ When he knew I had been battered and scorned ♪ ♪ So if he had not been there ♪ ♪ For the Lord on my side ♪ ♪ Tell me where would I be ♪

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♪ Where would I be ♪ ♪ He never left me all alone ♪ ♪ He gave the peace and joy I'd never known ♪ ♪ He answered when I knelt to really pray ♪

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♪ And in victory the Lord brought me his way ♪ ♪ So if it had not been ♪ ♪ For the Lord on my side ♪ ♪ Till he left, would I be ♪

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♪ Where would I be ♪ ♪ You'd be better not to be here ♪ ♪ For the Lord on my side ♪ ♪ Tell me where could I be ♪

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♪ Where could I be ♪ ♪ Where could I be ♪ [music] Amen. Let's all say amen again. Amen. Amen.

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And the Lord said to Ananias, "Arise and go into the city, to a street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarshish. For behold he prayeth and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight."

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The subject of the message, "Staying on Straight Street," staying on straight street, Acts, the ninth chapter, verses 11 and 12. I was in the darkness.

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I could not see my words, nor the wishes of my heart. Suddenly there was a great light. Let me into the darkness again. The street on which we live is important.

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Where we live is determined by several factors. I shall deal with just three of them. The first is background. The next is circumstance.

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And the third is aspiration. Background, circumstance, aspiration. Each of us is born somewhere. The place is determined by our parents.

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We live there because they live there. It's a spot of ground on which we make our entrance into the world. And we're there before we know who we are or where we are.

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family background is conditioned by national background. While Saul had been living a life according to his heritage and teaching, he was doing what is normally expected

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of persons to conform to their family background in teaching. We grew up in a family, and we are guided in a particular way. And because of family, we stay on a particular street. Because of family, our lives are shaped in a certain way.

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So family background has a part to play in determining where we live, the street on which we live. The other factor I mentioned is circumstance. Some cities have a Chinese quarter,

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Chinatown, a Spanish quarter, and then there is a place where the blacks live. In medieval times, Jews in Rome were forced to live in a ghetto surrounded by a huge wall with a gate which was locked at night.

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And it's from that experience that we get the word "ghetto." Where we live is influenced by cultural factors. Where we live may be determined by law. In either case, where we live is determined by the queer quirk of circumstance, whether

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we can provide the economic wherewithal, the money with which to locate where we want to be because there is a cost factor. Another factor has to do with our aspirations where we want to live. But let us consider what it means to stay on straight street. This is not an ordinary street. It's a street which is located in

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the heart of the city of Damascus. In other words, it is Main Street. The street called Straight runs east and west, straight as an hour through the city of Damascus. And even those who make the visit to Damascus today are shown the street called Straight. It's about a mile long.

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It's a narrow street which provides for through traffic, for merchant shops, and for residences. After his encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road, Saul is led into the city and takes up residence

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in a dwelling located on Straight Street. Straight Street was true to its name and not many streets can lay claim to being called straight.

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Some are winding curves, Others are rambling circles and you end up where you start out. But Straight Street represents a new lifestyle. Straight Street is a symbol of the Christian journey.

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It has a beginning and an end. Straight street is a sign of divine direction. Straight street denotes certainty. It's a certain blessed assurance.

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There is a note of certainty about this particular street. When Paul responds to the call of God, he is sent to stay on straight street. Now, every person who responds to the call of the divine takes a new lifestyle, a new residence.

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He stays on straight street. Straight street is mainline Christianity. It's the embodiment of the heart of the Christian faith. Straight street.

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And the very heart of the matter, when it's all said and done, all the many things we carry on, all the things we become so wrapped up about, but when it's all said and done, The heart of the matter is whether or not we are obedient to God. That's the heart of the matter, obedience to God.

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The Lord says to Saul, "Arise, go into the city and it will be told you what you must do." That's obedience. will be told you what you must do. In other words, the living of the Christian

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life, taking up residence on Straight Street isn't something you vote on. It's not something that's left to one's whims. It is a divine imperative. It's something that happens to an individual

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who is grasped by the spirit. Grasped by the spirit. Now, the question we need to ask ourselves as we seek to unravel the meaning

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of this particular scripture for our lives is where are we staying? Are we staying on a curve? Are we staying on a street called curve?

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Are we staying on circle drive? Just going around in circles? not getting anywhere? Are we staying on crooked lane? Are we on a dead end street where we take orders from the demonic force? You see straight street is

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Mainline Christianity where Saul takes up his residence when he leaves that place where he encounters Christ on the Damascus road. He goes to Straight Street to a certain place, a certain house. He's baptized there and he receives the Holy Spirit.

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These are things that happen to you when you live on straight street. Because one cannot be honest, forthright, and a person of candor without the Holy Spirit. That's the only way we can stay on straight street. We must be led there by the hand of God.

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no jiving and conniving on straight street. No tricks, no treachery, no curves, no crookedness on straight street. Paul is staying on straight street. And after his conversion, the record here reveals that he was bland for three days. He engaged in fasting and prayer, his lifestyle is under the discipline of the

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Spirit because he's staying on straight street. Fasting and prayer, a discipline of the Spirit. Now Paul knew many things. He had studied rabbinical theology under Professor Gamaliel. He had received his doctorate degree in the law, the Old Testament scriptures. He had served with distinction as a member of the

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Pharisaic party. Paul knew many things. He was highly skilled as an academician. He knew the law but he did not know prior to that encounter the Lord Jesus Christ. His was a kind of informed ignorance. You know we can be informed about many things and ignorant about the main thing. His was a kind of informed

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ignorance. But now all of this is changed. He stays on straight street and he has a different lifestyle. Now there are some rules for staying on straight street. There are some rules that you have to follow. I remember one summer we, our family spent in Boston and on the street where we lived, on certain days cars were to be parked on the right side of the

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street and if your car was parked on the left side of the street on that day you got a ticket. the next day, certain other days, your parked car could be parked on the left side of the street. And if you were parked on the right side of the street, you got a ticket. There were certain rules for staying on that street that had to be obeyed. There were certain

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times they had clean up day and all of those things, certain rules you had to follow. Now But there are certain rules for staying on straight street. Jesus says, "Enter in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat."

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Because straight is the gate and narrow the way which leadeth into life, and few there be that find it. There are rules. Jesus himself is the manual, he is the traveler's guide.

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He gives us the word and we have this encouched in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters in that passage we call the Sermon on the Mount. We have sort of the rules for the road,

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rules for staying on straight street. While Paul is residing on straight street, the Lord speaks to Ananias. You know, really what I hope we can see

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this account that Luke gives us in the history of the church is how the Spirit moves in the life of the church. Now the Spirit of God moves in the life of the church. Now the Spirit speaks to Ananias. God says to him in the Spirit, "Ananias, I I want you to go into the city of Damascus to a street called Straight.

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I want you to go there to a certain house on that street that is the home of Judas. And I want you to inquire after you get there concerning a certain person whose name is Saul. And I want you to go there and I want you to lay your hands on him and I want you to

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give him a new commission. Oh, now Ananias, he has in his pocket, no doubt, some papers that he has received from the high sheriff in Jerusalem that gave him the power to come here and do certain things. But I want you to give him a new commission.

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He has some new orders now from headquarters. And I said, "Lord, do you really mean what you're saying for me to go to that man?" He said, "You know, you know, he's a terrible fellow. In fact, he's our number one enemy.

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We've already received word from Jerusalem how he has arrested people and put them in jail and he's come here to arrest people in Damascus and Lord you want me to go to this fella? Yes, Ananias. Because he's a different creature now. He has a new residence, he has moved to Straight Street and he has a new lifestyle.

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because he is on Straight Street. And now watch as you read it, "Not only does the Spirit speak to Ananias, but the same Spirit speaks to Saul." Now Saul, the Lord will talk with you when you are his servant. He said, "Now Saul, I'm sending Ananias over here to commission you. And when Ananias comes, certain things will happen to you. And so

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you see that's what the Spirit does. The same Spirit talks to Ananias, that talks also to Saul. And you see here they are. Now Ananias is afraid of Saul. he's afraid that Saul is an enemy and he's wondering how he's going to be received by Saul and Saul is wondering how he's going to be received by Ananias.

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They're both wondering about each other. But you know what breaks all of that now is the Spirit. It's when you are guided by the Spirit that the Spirit breaks down barriers and unites hearts and minds. The Spirit does that, but you have to dwell on straight streets for that to happen in the life of the Spirit. And then Ananias

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comes and he knocks on the door and they open the door and he comes and he says I am looking for one named Saul and Saul comes and Ananias says to him brother Saul you listen to that brother song. Brother song. That breaks down all of the barriers. Brother song. We are together. We are brothers. We are on an equal plane. We are brothers. We have both been

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by the Spirit of God. We are brothers. We are brothers. We love each other. We are brothers. We are companions on the same way. We are both under commission by God. we are brothers, brothers all. And Jesus, the same Lord who appeared to you on the way when you were on that Damascus road, that same Lord has sent me that you

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might receive your sight. So I was blind. Now you can be living on Straight Street and still have a certain blindness for a while on Straight Street. And Ananias is sent that the blindness may be taken away. Ananias says to him, "Brother Saul, receive thy sight." And it is when this word is uttered that the scales fall from his eyes.

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It's through our relationship to the word, through the channel of God's grace, the word we get a vision of what God wants us to do. He has a new vision now. Prior to that time Saul suffers from spiritual blindness. He could not see God's purpose for his life. He could not see God's design for him and for his people. But

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now he has new eyes. When you live on Straight Street you get a new vision because you begin to see life through the eyes of faith. You see, through the eyes of faith. And there are a lot of things that you never, never, never would do unless you had faith in God. God somehow gives you a new vision of who you are

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and who you can become. I, yes, he was in the, I was in the darkness. I was in the darkness. I was in the darkness.

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I could not see my words nor the wishes of my heart. But suddenly, suddenly, there was a great light. God opens our eyes and it's a wonderful thing how we can see the goodness of God when we look through the eyes of faith. Goodness of God, eyes of faith, eyes of

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faith. The psalmist puts it this way, he said, "I had fainted if I had not believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." That's the only way I've made he said. If I'd have given up a long time ago, so much had happened to me, so much went wrong all around me, I would have just faded. I'd have given up if I hadn't believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

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It's amazing how God enables us to see and to have a vision of who we are and to see ourselves as we can become. You see, when you live on a straight street, it means that you just who you really are. people go through life and they never know who they really are. They're always

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trying to be something that God never intended for them to be. Not an authentic person. So they become fakes and phonies and counterfeits. They never discover who they are. They haven't taken up residence yet on straight streets. It's God's amazing grace, not that we deserve it, but it's

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this amazing grace that reaches out and snatches us from the jaws of death and turns us around, and we call that a conversion experience. We say "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found was blind but now I see. I see. It happens on Straight Street. Straight

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Street. Straight Street. You know what happens after that? After he receives his vision, he's baptized, he receives the Holy Spirit, the baptism, not just water but the baptism of the Spirit. And that baptism means not only the presence of the Spirit but it means the indwelling of the Spirit in your life. He's

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He's baptized and then he eats a meal. He eats a meal. That may be symbolic of the Eucharist, of the Lord's Supper. You know, we had on the program to do both of these today, to have baptism in the Lord's

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Supper. There's a third thing, ministry. Now, three things that the World Council of Churches in its meeting in Vancouver a year or so ago, British Columbia and Canada, addressed the matter of baptism, the Eucharist, and

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ministry. And that's mainline Christianity, to be baptized by the Spirit and really the Lord's Supper is a symbol of feasting on God's Word. In other words, His Word strengthens us and directs us and gives us the way that we should

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go and then we do what God gives us the energy to do through His Word. and the Holy Meal and ministry. This is the emphasis. Now, Saul has a new life now. He stays on Straight Street. Oh, he's persecuted the church in the past, but now he's persecuted by those who were his allies. On Straight Street, there is

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a straight line to heaven where one has direct contact with the Heavenly Father. And so as we think about this man, Saul, who takes up his residence on Straight Street, let's just check the biblical directory for some other people who lived on Straight Street. Let's just look through the directory for just a moment and if we

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would just thumb through the biblical directory would find that Joshua was one who lived on Straight Street. He said, "Well, as for me and my house, it doesn't matter what others may do, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." In other words, he'd made the decision to live on Straight Street. You know some

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people the only thing they want straight is their liquor. That's the only thing they want straight. But relatively to live on straight street is to serve God. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Zacchaeus is another who lived on straight street. Jesus came along, changed his life. You know where he'd been living

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even before he'd been living on corruption circles. Getting all he could get for himself and exploiting people, mistreating people, doing everything under his power

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in order to get more wealth. But when Jesus came along, he said, "I'm moving now to straight street." He said, "I'm changing my investment portfolio.

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Whatever I have taken, I'll give it back for a soul. I'm changing my life. I'm taking up my residence on Straight Street. They brought a woman to Jesus,

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and they said, "Now, this is a terrible woman. "She's been traveling the primrose path of prostitution." But Jesus tells her, "You can be a new creature. "You can move to a new place.

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You can dwell on straight street and it's your sanctuary. Now you go and sin no more. She took up a new residence, a new lifestyle on straight street.

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Well, my brothers and sisters, the word is that we need to dwell on straight street because those who dwell on straight street are new creatures.

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You're a new being. You are given residence in a new age. And you are on your way to a new city. And somehow as we stay on straight street

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that we are given a new destiny. Stay on straight street. And the last thing I want to say is there's a price to pay for staying on straight street.

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It's a high price. It costs you to stay on straight street. You'd have to suffer if you stay on straight street. Or if you want to bend and curve and do all-- well,

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maybe you think you're getting out all right, but it's always better to stay on straight street. That's the best street. That's the street that God has somehow

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has designed for all of his people. Straight street. Stay on that street. It's a good street to stay on.

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Well, Paul had to pay a price because he decided to stay on that street. If you read the story, it says that before he could even get out of the city, they decided they were going to kill him because he was staying on Street Street. So we're going to kill this fella. We don't like him. We're going to get him.

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We're going to kill him. You know what they did? They gathered their forces together to kill him and they were ready to take his life. And his friends came to his rescue. And the Bible says that they had to put him in a basket

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and let him down over the wall and through the wall in a basket. But God has a way. That's why I'm sure Paul could have sung the words

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through many dangers, toils, and snares. I have already come, for grace hath brought me safe thus far. and grace will lead me on. Stay on straight street.

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Stay on straight street. Oh, no matter what happens, there's a price to pay, but stay there anyhow. Oh, I know sometimes the winds are fierce,

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but stay on straight street. I hear, I hear, I hear the hymnologist as he says, through floods and flames, if Jesus lead, I'll follow where he goes.

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Hinder me not will be my plea, though earth and hell oppose. Stay on Straight Street. I don't know where you're staying today. I don't know where you are.

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But somehow, wherever you are, check your residence, don't I? And see whether or not the street that you live on is a street called Straight.

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Check it out. because God has a home for every one of us on Straight Street. And he wants us to come and dwell in that place, because that's the highway to heaven.

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Give number 113. Let us all join in singing that hymn. [MUSIC - "SOMETHING TENDER"] ♪ And the angels are calling ♪

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♪ Crying for you and me ♪ ♪ From the hills of Israel ♪ ♪ And the angels are calling ♪ ♪ And the angels are calling ♪

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♪ And Jesus yesterday came down ♪ ♪ And so the angels are telling ♪ ♪ Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Calling for you and for me ♪

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♪ See on the martyrs ♪ ♪ He's waiting and watching ♪ ♪ Watching for you and for me ♪ ♪ The Lord, the Lord ♪

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♪ The Lord, the Lord ♪ ♪ He who hath given the Lord ♪ ♪ He who hath given the Lord ♪ ♪ Where is he? ♪

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♪ Tender in Jesus' loving ♪ ♪ Is calling ♪ ♪ Calling, O Savior ♪ ♪ Come home ♪

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♪ Why should we tarry ♪ ♪ When Jesus is pleading ♪ ♪ Pleading for you and for me ♪ ♪ I should be weaker ♪

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♪ I need God's mercies ♪ ♪ Mercies for you and for me ♪ ♪ Come home, come home ♪ ♪ Come home, come home ♪

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♪ O sinner, come home ♪ ♪ He who cometh in the world ♪ ♪ Hiness, piety, and love in Jesus is coming ♪ ♪ Coming, O sinner, come home ♪

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[BLANK_AUDIO]