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[Silence] [Music] [Music] >> It's alright; It's alright.

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[Music] >> That's right. [Music] >> That's alright.

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♪ I'm Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus from above ♪ ♪ I'm from above ♪ ♪ He was surely God ♪

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♪ And he was a man of God ♪ ♪ Till the day is done ♪ ♪ That's the word ♪ ♪ That's the word ♪

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♪ Oh, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, come on ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪

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♪ Come on, all right, sit down ♪ ♪ There he is, there he is ♪ ♪ Lord, you're near ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no, no, no ♪

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♪ No night so dark ♪ ♪ That love can't cure ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no, no ♪

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♪ I need Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ My Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ All I want is Jesus ♪ ♪ And the evil should be gone ♪

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♪ Until the day is done ♪ ♪ Until the day is done ♪ ♪ Let the world reign ♪ ♪ Let the world reign ♪

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♪ Until we fight the Lord in Jesus ♪ ♪ Until we fight the Lord in Jesus ♪ ♪ Until we're all one ♪ ♪ Oh God, Lord ♪

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♪ Oh God, Lord ♪ ♪ I need you ♪ ♪ Yes, I need you, Lord ♪ ♪ All about the trouble ♪

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♪ All about the trouble ♪ ♪ He will show you how to do it ♪ ♪ He will change the world ♪ ♪ 'Til the day is done ♪

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♪ 'Til the day is done ♪ ♪ There's no one to praise ♪ ♪ There's no one to praise ♪ ♪ But the Lord Jesus ♪

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♪ But the Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ Lord God of hosts ♪ [music] 26 through the 29th verses.

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Jesus also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground, night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up. The seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know it. All by itself the seed produces grain.

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First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come. This is the word of the Lord. The subject of the message, "The Seed Growing Secretly."

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"The Seed Growing Secretly." As I indicated earlier, this marks the beginning of a sermon series based on the parables of our Lord. Scripture tells us that Jesus taught his disciples many things through parables. A parable is defined as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

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The parable with which we are concerned is called a parable of the kingdom of God. Jesus begins his ministry saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel." Jesus had much to say about the kingdom.

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It was his central theme. Questions arose in the minds and hearts of his hearers. What is the kingdom? Where is the kingdom?

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How does the kingdom manifest itself in the world? Jesus responds by telling them that the kingdom is like unto this or that. He tells them what the kingdom is like. It is as if this were the case.

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Jesus takes something they understand, something that is familiar to them, and compares it to the kingdom of God. Now, the kingdom of God is the rule of God in the hearts of people. It is not surprising that those who heard so much about the kingdom would want to know how they could recognize it.

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Out of this need comes the story of the seed growing secretly. The seed is cast into the ground. It is hidden. It is covered with soil.

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It is not seen with physical eyes. It is not exposed. It is buried in the earth. That is the way it is with the kingdom of God.

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You cannot say, "Look, there it is," or "Yonder it is." The kingdom of God is like seed buried in the earth. It is hidden from view. So it is with us.

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We do not see the real person. We see the clothes they wear. We see the body that is the shell in which they dwell. But we do not see the real person.

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Psychologists tell us that every one of us is like an iceberg. Eight-tenths of the iceberg is under the water. So we can't see the real you. Most of it's underwater.

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So the truth concerning the nature of the kingdom of God is revealed and concealed in this story of the seed growing secretly. Now the seed is small, tiny in size, and we are often prone to judge things by size. We say something is better because it's bigger, which is not necessarily the case.

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that certainly is not true concerning the kingdom. Kingdom is small but significant. A teacher goes about with 12 disciples representing the kingdom, a small movement, but it's significant. Fatality is mightier than size. So we do not

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determine the value of something by its size. Like seed buried in the earth, the kingdom is not visible to the eye. It's certainly not visible to the uninitiated, but it is seen by the believers. The kingdom is revealed and concealed. So much is seen and so much remains hidden. It's a paradox.

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It is revealed to babes, but hidden from the wise and prudent. It is like seed buried in the earth. The seed grows. It grows quietly and secretly.

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This is the mystery of the kingdom. It is a secret. We do not understand it. We cannot explain it.

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But we know it happens. In my high school biology class, each student was to get a bow and bring it to class. And we watched the growth of that bulb.

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And we measured it each time we came to class. And it was remarkable how the growth took place. We didn't see it. But we took measurements, and we had evidence

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that it was growing. It wasn't the same today as it was yesterday. And that's the way it is with the kingdom. The growth takes place.

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It grows secretly. The sower plants the seed and continues to engage in his scheduled activities. He sleeps and rises.

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That's interesting, right? The seed is growing while the sower sleeps. sleeves. Aldous Huxley wrote a book concerning the brave new world and one of the things he says will happen in the brave new world is what he calls sleep

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teaching and one can learn while asleep. I know some young people in college would love that. That all these difficult courses, you don't have to worry about delving

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into this chemistry and physics and mathematics and all of that. But while you're sleeping, you learn and finish your college work.

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That would be wonderful. But here, Jesus talks about the sore sleeping, Going about his regular duties, sleeping, and while he sleeps, the seed grows while he sleeps.

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Secretly, the seed is growing. The seed does not disrupt the order. The seed enters time, works in time, works with time to accomplish its purpose.

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So in the Hebrew reckoning of time, the day begins with sundown. So from sundown to sundown, he goes about his duties. And the seed has everything it needs to do what is necessary, to do what the seed is created to do.

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So the kingdom, to be in the kingdom is to be identified with this seed and to be identified with bearing fruit. That's what the kingdom is, bearing fruit. It's not sitting around doing nothing.

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That's not being a citizen of the kingdom. The sower is proactive. He observes his regular schedule, however. He sleeps and works.

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Now, this is the nature of the kingdom. Some people think that they're to do nothing. I'd like to paraphrase words of a song that we sing. Sit down, oh man of God.

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He will bring his kingdom. You don't have to do anything. His kingdom he will bring. You cannot do a thing.

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Sit down. And many people have taken that literally. - Amen. Amen.

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- You don't have to look far and wide to find him. - Amen. And there's another group that says, "Rise up, "oh men of God.

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"His kingdom, terror is long. "Bring in the day of brotherhood "and end the night of wrong." And no doubt there were those during Jesus' time

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who thought that way. They were the zealots. They were gonna bring it in any way you can get it in. As the song used to, we used to sing,

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me down, throw it down any way you get it down. So there are those who belong to that group. But the kingdom is not to be brought in by force. This is one of the things about the Islamic movement that they have sought to do many things by force and by the sword. That's not the nature of the kingdom of God.

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The kingdom, kingdom. Do you hear people many times pray that we're going to build up the kingdom? That is not the biblical teaching of the kingdom. To build up the kingdom.

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In other words, the kingdom is just the seed that is planted secretly and we don't make the seed grow. The stuff that the seed needs to grow is in the seed. It just needs some soil. But the seed, how it grows, what it has in it and all of that, that's a mystery. And people often pray for us to build up the kingdom.

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Build it up. No, we don't build up the kingdom. The incident where men were engaged in building up a kingdom, no, God frustrated their efforts. They had the power of Babel, and they failed because man, humankind,

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We do not find building up the kingdom of God. It's something that God ushers in. It's like, Jesus says, it's like seed buried in the earth. And it grows, it grows secretly. The farmer does not hasten the coming of the night, nor delay the rising of the sun.

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The seed keeps growing secretly. things may be happening all around but the seed keeps growing secretly doing what it's ordained to do

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and so all the farmer does is to wait patiently be patient therefore says James brethren unto the coming of the Lord behold a husbandman waits

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for the precious food of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rains. So be you also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. So the seed grows. God works wonders in his own time. God does not get in a hurry. He's always on time. He's never late. And we don't determine the wheel of history in bringing the kingdom. The kingdom comes in spite of us.

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Like the seed, the kingdom grows secretly. The scribes and Pharisees do not see it, but it grows. The zealots do not see it, but it grows. The Sanhedrin court does not see it, but it grows. Pilate does not see it, but it grows. And the one who

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sows the seed does not have to know how the seed grows. That's the mystery of the kingdom. The stages of growth will come. First the stalk and then the head and then the grain. The farmer does not control these, he just plants the seed. The kingdom of God is coming into being even apart from human efforts. The sower

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does his work, the soil does its part, the seed sprouts and experiences various stages of development, the stalk, the head, the grain. The farmer cannot predetermined these, he just waits. That's our task, to watch and wait. Watchful waiting, the psalmist says, I waited patiently for the Lord. And Habakkuk the prophet says, "The fig tree may not blossom,

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though there be no cattle in the stall, no fruit on the vine, yet will I wait." I'll get up in my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will do. That's the nature of the kingdom. Job says, "Don't he slay me yet!" Well, I trust him. That's

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the nature of the kingdom. To wait on God, he brings in his kingdom. He brings in his kingdom. So the fruit grows and reaches maturity. When harvest time comes, that's the time time, Jesus says, that the sickle is used. The seed is fully revealed as to what it is,

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harvest time. The kingdom is revealed in its fullness at harvest time. That's why I often pray for us to work toward the coming of its kingdom, of his kingdom in its fullness. Oh, the kingdom is here in a small seed buried in the earth, but someday somewhere the kingdom is going

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to be revealed in its fullness. So we pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And we see God ushering in the kingdom, we see the stalk and we see evidences of the grain but the kingdom has not yet come in its fullness but it will come. No matter how strong evil doors may appear the kingdom

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will come. Kingdom will come. So there is a harvest time. And that is something that we must ever be reminded of, that there is a harvest. Seed buried in the earth and many people pass by and are not aware of the fact that it's down there, but the kingdom will come. There comes a time when the seed sprouts up and there is a stalk and its branches spread out and there is fruit.

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The kingdom will come. It will come in its fullness. Wait for it. Work for it.

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But the kingdom is sure to come. And this sickle that is used by the farmer, when the fruit comes forth from this seed and reaches maturity, he takes the sickle and cuts it down. We've still got some distance to go.

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Some of us may be in our teens and others may be in our 20s, others may be in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. And yet we have not expressed the full measure of what God has for us. The maturity is not determined by chronological age.

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It is determined by our relationship to God. And so Jesus has to explain this to the disciples. Many of them want a kingdom set up overnight, but this is not the nature of his kingdom. This kingdom is buried in the earth and brings forth until the time of harvest and the sower

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comes in and takes his sickle and cuts it down. Seed is grown secretly, but it has expressed itself openly and we see it in its fullness when harvest time comes. So harvest is coming.

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This is the autumn season and we see signs of harvest all around us. But there's a harvest for our lives. And that's the nature of the kingdom is that there's harvest time that someday, somewhere the soul comes with his sickle and cuts the grave and puts it in his barn.

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Harvest will come. Make no mistake about it. Harvest is sure to come. Harvest is sure to come.

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So it's ours to do our sowing. So do our sowing. While we have time to do our sowing, spray a little soil and seed here and a little there

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because it'll come up. And it'll bear good fruit. And you can never tell. You know, sometimes the farmer just walking down

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the road, so to speak, he walks down the path and scatters the seed. And it's later covered up, and the farmer maybe has forgotten about it, but harvest will come.

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- Oh, yeah. - Harvest will come, it will come. I remember a history professor I had in elementary school, and he said to me, "Marvin, you have a good mind,

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"and if I had the money, I would send you to college myself." And that struck a place in my heart. It was some seed that I never forgot, if he had that much confidence in me.

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He probably forgot about the statement many times, but it was a seed in my life that caused me to nurture it and to develop according to it, just a seed. So somebody scattered some seeds of kindness,

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and you have those in your life, and others have it, but always some seed of kindness that's sown that changes your life because there's a harvest that comes from it.

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There's a harvest that comes. And so we sing sowing. Sowing in the morning. Sowing while you're young.

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I came to Jesus when I was just nine years of age. That's sowing in the morning. Sowing in the morning. sowing seeds of kindness, sowing in the noontide,

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and the doing eve. By and by, by and by the harvest and the time of reaping, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. That's a grand and glorious time.

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Bringing in the sheaves, yes, bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. As we come now to the hymn of invitation, we extend the privilege of accepting Jesus Christ

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as Lord of your life. We invite you to come by letter, by Christian experience, or on profession of faith. The door of the church is open.

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♪ Soaring in the morning ♪ ♪ Soaring in the sunless ♪ ♪ Soaring in the moon-tight and the beauty ♪ ♪ Sighing for the heart and the time of weeping ♪

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♪ We shall come rejoicing, draining in the sea ♪ ♪ Draining in the sea ♪ ♪ Draining in the sea ♪ We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seas, bringing in the seas, bringing in the seas.

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We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seas. ♪ Joy in the mountains, joy in the air ♪ ♪ We'll be in the clouds all day and all through the year ♪ ♪ Joy for the harvest and the time ♪

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♪ We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seed ♪ Bringing in the seas, bringing in the seas We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seas Bringing in the seas, bringing in the seas

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We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seas [chorus singing] ♪ We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sea ♪ ♪ Bringing in the sea, bringing in the sea ♪

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♪ We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sea ♪ ♪ Bringing in the sea, bringing in the sea ♪ ♪ We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sea ♪ ♪ We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seas ♪

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♪ Bringing in the seas ♪ ♪ Bringing in the seas ♪ ♪ We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seas ♪ - Amen.

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- Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before. [PAUSE] >> Christ, as Lord of your life, we invite you to come by letter, by Christian experience,

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experience our own profession of faith. The door of the church is open. [Music] Soaring in the morning, soaring in the sunless, Soaring in the noon, hide and be beauty.

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Hiding for the harvest and the time of reaping, We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seed. Bringing in the seas, bringing in the seas We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seas

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Bringing in the seas, bringing in the seas We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seas [choir singing] ♪ The sun shines ♪

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♪ Glowing in the sky ♪ ♪ We'll be in the clouds ♪ ♪ All day and all night ♪ ♪ Joy by the harvest ♪

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♪ And the time ♪ ♪ We shall come rejoicing ♪ ♪ Bringing in the seed ♪ ♪ Bringing in the seed ♪

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♪ Bringing in the seed ♪ We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sea. Bringing in the sea, bringing in the sea. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sea.

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Alleluia. So we call the Master, who comes to take us, we're alone and free. Now we've been taught that, ain't the greatest splendor. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sea.

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Bringing in the sea, bringing in the sea. We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seed. Bringing in the seed. Bringing in the seed.

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We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the seed. now unto him was able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before his glorious presence to the only wise God our Father be glory, majesty, dominion, and power now and for evermore. Amen.

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