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[Silence] [Music] How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

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[Church singing] Let us pray. O gracious God, our Father, thou hast been merciful unto us. We give you thanks for the privilege of coming to this, the house of prayer, for ushering us into a new day, for the gift of your grace, which is new every morning.

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Have mercy upon us and bless us, we pray, in this service of worship. Grant unto us your spirit, that we may truly be channels of your love. Help us, O God, forgive us of our sins, renew the right spirit within us. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.

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(rain falling) (rain falling) (rain falling) (car engine rumbling)

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(gentle piano music) [Music] [Music] God's gift of love to you

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And we his crowd God's only Son If you believe Then you shall be saved

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And God's gift will live on and on So his gift will live on and on ♪ He is the way ♪ ♪ He is the truth ♪

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♪ And the life ♪ ♪ He is ♪ ♪ The King of kings ♪ The King of Kings

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He shed His blood And He gave His life To redeem the world from sin To redeem the world from sin

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♪ God's gift of love ♪ ♪ God's gift, God's gift of love ♪ ♪ His blessings, his blessings, his blessings ♪ ♪ Come to this earth ♪

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♪ To be strong ♪ ♪ If you believe ♪ ♪ Then you shall be saved ♪ ♪ And you'll see ♪

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♪ He'll live on and on ♪ ♪ Soon he's near ♪ ♪ He'll live on and on ♪ ♪ God's gift of love ♪

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♪ God's gift, God's gift of love ♪ ♪ Is found in the eyes of all people ♪ ♪ Christ, the Lord is come ♪ ♪ If you believe ♪

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♪ Then you shall be saved ♪ ♪ And God's here ♪ ♪ With him on and on ♪ ♪ So he's here ♪

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♪ With him on and on ♪ [music] Here this word is recorded in the Gospel according to Saint John, the sixth chapter, and the fifty-third through the sixty-ninth verses.

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reading from the Living Bible paraphrased. So Jesus said it again, "With all the earnestness I possess, I tell you this, unless you eat the flesh of the Messiah and drink his blood,

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you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him at the last day. For my flesh is the true food and my blood is the true drink.

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Everyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood is in me and I in him. I live by the power of the Living Father who sent me And in the same way those who partake of me shall live because of me. I am the true bread from heaven and

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anyone who eats this bread shall live forever and not die as your fathers did though they ate bread from heaven.

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He preached this sermon in the synagogue in punyum. Even his disciples said this is hard to understand. Who can tell what he means? Jesus knew within himself that his disciples were complaining and said to them does this offend you? Then what will you think if you see me the Messiah

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returned to heaven again. Only the Holy Spirit gives eternal life. Those born only once with physical birth will never receive this gift, but now I have told you how to get this true spiritual life. But some of you don't believe me, for Jesus knew from the beginning who didn't believe and knew the one who would

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betray him and he remarked that is what I meant when I said that no one can come to me unless the father attracts him to me. At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the twelve and asked are you going to?" Simon Peter replied, "Master, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words that give

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eternal life, and we believe them, and know you are the Holy Son of God. Thus endeth the reading of our Scripture." Those who feel led to do so may join us here as we have our altar prayer. Every person needs to pray. The prayer of the righteous availeth much.

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What a friend we have in Jesus. all our sins and griefs to bear what a privilege to carry everything everything to God in prayer no burden is too heavy No disappointment is too great. Whatever the problem may be, everything may be

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carried to God in prayer. So here we are, God's family, assembled together in his house, the house of prayer, to commune with him. So let us pray. Gracious God, Father of us all, in whom we live, move, and have being, we pause to give you thanks for this day, a day we have never seen before, an expression of your love, which

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is given to us so bountifully. We thank you for the privilege of just coming here to the house of prayer. The privilege of coming together as your children to say thank you for life and all of the privileges associated with our existence, we would confess our sins. Every one of us knows that we are not what we ought to be. Oh we've stumbled, we've blundered,

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we failed to do some things that we know we ought to have done. You've been good and you've been and kind and merciful and we ask for your forgiveness. We ask for another chance, for another expression of your grace. Oh Lord, our Lord, have mercy upon us and bless us. We remember the sick. We remember the shut-in. We remember also that you are a great physician,

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able to heal the diseases of the mind as well as the body. Visit them, we pray, with your finger of healing mercy, and then give unto them that abiding assurance to know that with you everything may be made to work together for good to them that love you.

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We thank you, O God, for the joys in life, for the celebrations that we have in you. We're even grateful that you are with us in our times of sorrow, that whatever may be the circumstance or the condition that we can depend on you. We would not limit our concerns to ourselves and to this our church, but we would, oh God,

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reach out in our concern to that wider fellowship, to our city, our state, our nation. We ask the leadership of your spirit with those who are our leaders in government. We pray for our world. remember the people who are deprived of the freedoms that we enjoy and then we

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would pray for the one who has come to join us from a far country the land of Ethiopia. Become a member of this our family and our responsibility and help Help us, O God, to minister to him and to reach out to others in our concern in this worldwide mission which you have entrusted to us.

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Bless those who have assembled within our midst who have come from afar, and help us all, O God, to serve you as one family. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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(eerie music) (ominous music) (ominous music) (dramatic music)

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(dramatic music) [MUSIC PLAYING] (soft music) [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[MUSIC PLAYING] (soft music) (soft music) (soft music)

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

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(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) [ Music ] Thou my everlasting Lordship, more than three are love to me.

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♪ All alone ♪ ♪ I will return ♪ ♪ Savior, let ♪ ♪ Me go ♪

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♪ With thee ♪ ♪ Close to thee ♪ ♪ Close to thee ♪ ♪ Close to thee ♪

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♪ Close to thee ♪ ♪ I'll go on my little road journey ♪ ♪ Say you'll let me go with you ♪ ♪ Not for peace ♪

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♪ A worldly pleasure ♪ ♪ Nor for pain ♪ ♪ My breath shall be ♪ ♪ When we will ♪

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♪ I told it so fair ♪ ♪ Only that ♪ ♪ Me wrong ♪ ♪ Will be ♪

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♪ Close to me ♪ ♪ Close to me ♪ ♪ Close to me ♪ ♪ Close to me ♪

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♪ When he willed ♪ ♪ I would suffer ♪ ♪ On his earth ♪ ♪ He loved ♪

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♪ With me ♪ ♪ Most to me ♪ ♪ Most to me ♪ ♪ Close to thee ♪

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♪ Close to thee ♪ ♪ When in will ♪ ♪ I know when to fear ♪ ♪ Only let me roam with thee ♪

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♪ Let me walk with Thee ♪ - What shall I give unto the Lord for all his goodness toward me? shall offer unto him myself. I will give of my substance. I will give my tithes and my

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offerings. I will give according to how the Lord has prospered me. This is the kind of response that God demands of those who are faithful in the service of his will. Let us give according to how God has prospered each one of us. We do not have an account of the Treasury at this point in the bulletin, but we are a little

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behind we have above last year but in order to keep pace it is necessary for us during these months to give as best we can and that being done we will even during the summer months keep up with our budget obligations let us pray bless us O Lord in this time of giving. We know that everything that is entrusted to us

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is really yours. We are only stewards of your possessions. We pray for your spirit to possess us so that we may not be possessed by our possessions but that we may possess them and use them to the glory of your name, through Jesus Christ. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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

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(somber music) (somber music) (gentle music) [MUSIC PLAYING]

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(somber music) [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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

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

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This is the announcement period and happy Father's Day to those fathers who are with us this morning. An appreciation service will be held this afternoon at 3 p.m. honoring the Reverend Charles Watts, pastor of Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church. It's the second anniversary service and it's the Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church at 1701 Chestnut.

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Also, please note that next Sunday afternoon we're honoring our own pastor, Reverend Griffin. That's next Sunday at 3 o'clock p.m. Other announcements are contained in this morning's bulletin. Please note them and mark your calendars accordingly.

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At this time I'd like to recognize the visitors and as I call your names would you please stand and remain standing so that words of welcome can be extended. Mrs. G.E. Demmeier, I may be mispronouncing that, Demmeier, excuse me.

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She is a member of Antioch Baptist Church visiting with the Fishers. Mary Kay McKenzie, 2108 Dankin, Fort Worth, Texas, a member of Mayfield Baptist Church also visiting with the Fishers. Bobby Conley Hicks, 5122 West Quincy, Chicago, Illinois, a member of Resurrection Baptist

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Church, visiting with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Louis Fowler, 1104 Fiesta, here in Austin, a member of Greater Union Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Mills, 2701, I think that's Galvez, Fort Worth, Texas, a member

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of Mount Gilead, also visiting with the Fishers. Mrs. Sarah Butler, 2810 Avenue P, Galveston, Texas, a member of Progressive Baptist Church, visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Fisher. Mrs. Electra Woolidge, I think that is, 1605 M, excuse me, Galveston, a member of Progressive

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Baptist Church visiting here also with the Fishers. Mrs. Lillian Mills, 7302 Sanders, Houston, Texas, a member of New Bethel Baptist Church also visiting with the Fishers. Eddie Thomas, 1520

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Thomas Works Trail, Indianapolis, Indiana, a member of St. Thomas, visiting with the Fishers. Dr. and Mrs. E.P. Thomas, 1520 Thomas Woods, I think that is,

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Indianapolis, Indiana, a member of Second Christian Baptist, visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Fisher. Lee Thomas, 1520 Thomas Woods, Indianapolis, Indiana, a member of Second Christian, visiting with the Fishers.

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Leland Thomas, 849 Berkeley, from Indianapolis, Indiana, a member of Second Christian, visiting with the Fishers. Janice and Trina Mills, 7701 Galvez, Fort Worth, Texas, a member of Mount Gilead Baptist, visiting with the Fishers.

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Are there other visitors here with us this morning? If so, would you stand along with these please? We're most happy to have you here with us this morning. It appears that half of our, most of our visitors this morning are guests of the Fishers and

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we're most happy to have them. I would invite you to continue worshipping with us this morning. We're making our home your home this morning. And please, by all means, feel at home.

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I invite you to stay with us through Sunday school and Baptist training and also 11 o'clock services. Thank you very much and please join us again. We're delighted indeed to have each one of our guests this morning and we trust that

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the service will be a blessing to you. you know, yesterday the Fishers celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and we are happy that after this celebration their friends have accompanied them to this service of worship this morning.

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So I want to ask that the Fishers will join with me at the rear of the sanctuary following the service and again express my gratitude for each one of you being here this morning. I think you know that today is usually referred to as Father's Day. I really want to have a period in which we recognize every husband, every father, so

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So I'd like for every husband and father to stand, every husband and father if you'd stand. We're doing this period of recognition, see who's here today while I give this tribute. We usually talk a great deal about the women, the good woman, so we want to talk a little about a good man.

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Who can find a faithful husband for his price as far above that of a Cadillac or even a Rolls-Royce. The heart of his wife does safely trust in him whether he is on a business trip or comes home late from the office. He tries to do the best for her and his family as long as he lives. He learns to use the tools of his trade

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and isn't afraid of a hard day's work. He is knowledgeable about world affairs and uses this for his family's enrichment. He rises early in the morning for his devotions and asks for wisdom for his daily tasks. He considers investments carefully and buys a home, a property, a business with an eye to the future. He

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watches his health and gets the sort of exercise he needs in order to stay physically fit. His work is of good quality even if he has to put in extra hours to make it that way. He doesn't neglect his home. He is concerned about social issues and tries to help those who are in need. He isn't afraid of

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difficult times because he has learned to trust God and to provide for his family. He nourishes himself and his family both physically and spiritually. His wife is well thought of in their community because he never belittles her. He has a hobby that is relaxing and worthwhile.

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He is strong and honorable and is a happy person, easy to live with. His conversation is wise and uplifting. In fact, he makes it a rule of his life to speak kindly. He is interested in all things that concern his family and is not lazy or indifferent.

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His children love him and admire him and his wife is proud of him and says Many men have succeeded in this world But you are the best of them all if I had it to do all over again I would still marry you

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Flattery is deceitful and good looks is only on the surface But a man who loves and fears God shall truly be praised This sort of man deserves to be treated like a king for his life proves

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That what he believes is real And I trust that each one of us will seek to measure up to be such a man as that God bless you Let us now turn to hymn number 192, "Faith of Our Fathers," as we stand now to sing this

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hymn number 192. [MUSIC] Let us all stand. [MUSIC]

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[ Music ] ♪ Praise to the Father living still ♪ ♪ In spite of death and trial and torment ♪ ♪ O our hearts we cry with joy ♪

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♪ Whene'er we hear the everlasting ♪ ♪ Praise to the Father's holy name ♪ We will keep strong till the end of time. Our fathers' name in prison's dark,

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But still their hearts and minds should scream, "God's name will be in our children's name." ♪ They will not fear the dark for we ♪ ♪ They know the Lord is holy there ♪

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♪ We will return to thee to bear ♪ ♪ They know the Lord is near ♪ ♪ The weather fore we are all at spry ♪ ♪ And richly too as the whole world's high ♪

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♪ Our gladly dancing, fruity smiles ♪ ♪ With the one for all the jolly days ♪ ♪ We will be sweetly weeping ♪ After this many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Jesus said to the twelve,

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Will you also go away? Simon Peter answered, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. To whom shall we go? John the sixth chapter in the 66 through the 68th verses. To whom shall we go? Learning to live involves sacrifice. Meaningful and abundant living can occur only where there

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is sacrifice. Sometimes we think our existence is hard and that we have been condemned to cruel circumstance when we face the challenge of sacrifice. Many of us entertain dreams of a world where there is no sacrifice, where we have everything that we need and there will be no need of sacrifice. But even in an economy of abundance, the need for sacrifice

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remains. In the sixth chapter of the gospel according to John, we have a record which indicates that Jesus performs a miracle of feeding five thousand with five barley loaves and two fishes. And then following that miracle there is a storm on the Sea of Galilee. After the storm Jesus delivers a sermon in the synagogue in Capernaum.

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This sermon precipitates a crisis. Jesus tells his followers that they must eat his body and drink his blood. And those who heard it said this is a hard saying who can bear it? The Master's demands are too severe, his teaching is too strict, he expects too much of us. Listen again to these words, "Except you eat my body

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and drink my blood you cannot be my disciple." These words are better understood when related to the ancient practice of sacrifice, animal sacrifice. In this particular practice the animal was seldom burned in its entirety. Only a token part was burned on the altar, although the whole animal was offered to the

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God. Part of the flesh was given to the priest as part of his fee. was given to the worshiper to make a feast for himself and his friends within the temple precincts.

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And at the feast, the God was himself held to be the guest. He was there sitting with his people and his worshippers. the flesh had been offered to God. It was held that the God had entered into the flesh, and therefore when the worshiper ate it, he was literally eating the God. Sacrifice is

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surrendering something which is highly prized for something which is considered of higher value. And Jesus tells the multitude that discipleship demands sacrifice. Reaching praiseworthy goals demands sacrifice. Being a good parent requires sacrifice. Being a good husband requires sacrifice. Being a good wife

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requires sacrifice and being a good child requires sacrifice. And as we think of this day, Father's Day, being a good father requires sacrifice. And a father is not a father just because he is the means of reproducing his kind in a physical way. It requires more than the ability to get a baby to be a father. It requires sacrifice. Love is meaningful

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only when it is revealed through sacrifice. Listen to the hymn of love, "If I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. I'm no more than a tinkling symbol, sacrifice with love is of essence in living the good life. It is essential to being what God demands of each one of us. And so often we feel that we are better off when we try

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to live in a world where there is no sacrifice. But to really learn to live our lives according to God's divine plan is to sacrifice. Some people never really get ahead because they never learn how to sacrifice. They want to get everything right now.

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They want to get it just the way they want it. And so they never really lay hold to the things that are of more permanent value because somehow they get entangled with the temporary, with the now, with trying to satisfy their whims and fancies in the here and now. Well let's take a look at these

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disciples who are following Jesus and it is said of them that they went back and and walked no more with him when they heard his demand for sacrifice. What they did they really defected they abandoned the company of the committed they walk no more with the master they went their way rather than to follow in the

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master's way. They took a detour. They took roads that lead nowhere. Oh we are aware of a number of people who recently have defected from their native land and defection is a rather serious step. They have severed their relationships and they have cut her loose from established ties. Well these people no longer follow

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Jesus because they want a handout. They want bread without working for it. The disciples here defect because they do not wish to surrender themselves to serve a higher purpose. But Jesus surrenders himself and he says that if we are to live our life we must follow him in the way of sacrifice. "Except you eat

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my body and drink my blood you cannot be my disciple." Well that menu was something which they could not stomach. They thought it was demanding too much of them and so often when we must travel the road of sacrifice when we are challenged sacrifice we often think it is expecting too much of us but if we would

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do anything and do it well it requires sacrifice. I remember a number of years ago we decided that we wanted to have a dog in our family so we we purchased a dog. It's a very good dog but we didn't take time for the dog. Dog requires some time, train, teach the dog what you want done the way you want it done, how to

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obey, takes a little time. Well I didn't take the time, my wife didn't take the time and I said well we need to take more time for this dog. She said yes we should but we never took the time. So the dog would never obey. Dog would jump up on us and well we kept the dog until the dog ruined one of my wife's better

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dresses and then we gave the dog away. The trouble wasn't really with the dog, the trouble was with us. That we did not take the time to sacrifice to share of ourselves with the dog so that the dog could be trained and the dog could grow in the way that the dog should go. And you know that happens in so many

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families, so many times we don't take time for each other, so many times we don't take time for one another, so many times we don't take time for our children sometimes sometimes that may be true of a father. Well I'll leave the rearing of the children to the mother. I'll be busy with my job. I'll be busy

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providing food. I'll be busy putting food on the table and seeing that there's money to buy clothes and that the notice paid and all of these things are provided for but you see when I really don't have time to spend with the child man who was selected as father of the year was presented on TV this past week

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and the child who wrote the letter that ended with the father being selected when she was asked why did you write this letter she said well if you ask me what is it that my father does? Well he loves me, he spends time with me, we go off we do things together and he's always there. And that's part of

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what it means to sacrifice, it's to be there, it's to be there when the crises comes. It's to be able to stay there and to somehow show forth love even in the moment when the storm occurs. It's to be willing to sacrifice ourselves. And so often we give people everything but ourselves. And the sharing of

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ourselves that's the real basis of friendship. It's the real basis of abundant living, it's to share ourselves and to sacrifice ourselves. It is the gift of self. "Except you eat my body and drink my blood," except that life which is in Jesus is in us, except that sacrificial life is exemplified in our

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daily existence he says you cannot be my disciple. Sure there's always the temptation to take another way and so many of his disciples went back and walk no more with him. You remember the story of the hog and the hen walking down the road together and they saw a sign ham and eggs and the hen said

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oh wouldn't it be a good thing that we would give ourselves to provide joy ham and eggs for others and the hog said to the hen say well now for you it's just a contribution but for me it's a total sacrifice and so often there are those who just want to make a contribution just a token contribution well we just

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sort of wave our hands and that's enough but God demands sacrifice, total sacrifice, commitment if we would learn to live our lives the way he wants us to do. It is a surrender of self. And when one learns to sacrifice, life becomes a feast shared by family and friends. And what occurs when we fail to sacrifice is that well

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we defect we defect from the road of abundant living and we take a detour some side road that really goes nowhere. What happens? We suffer deterioration. We cease to grow in the way that we should grow where there is no sacrifice. We fail to walk the road of self-fulfillment when we do not accept the way of

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sacrifice. And Jesus asked the twelve, "Will you also go away?" And Peter answers this question he says to whom shall we go to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life where shall we turn for someone to lead us in the way that we should go. We need someone to direct us. We need a sure and safe guide.

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Everyone needs that. A blind man was found sitting at the corner of a street in a great city with a lantern at his side and someone went up to him and asked what did he have the lantern for seeing that he was blind and the light was the same as the darkness to him and the blind man replied I have it so that no

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one may stumble over me. I have the lantern so that no one may stumble over me. And that's really why every one of us ought to have the light with us, in us, so that we might be a guide that no one might stumble over me. That's what it really means to to go before that's what it means to be a good guide that's what it means to be a

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leader that's what it means to be a father that's what it means to be a parent that's what it means to live our lives to live them in such a way that we will not be a stumbling block to others. To whom shall we go for this new humanity which is essential for the new world? To whom shall we go to find that

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safe and sure guide? To whom shall we go to find light in darkness? To whom shall we go to find hope in the midst of despair? Oh the disciples said Lord now we've discussed the options, we've really given some thought to it, we've considered the alternatives. To whom shall we go? If we go back to John the

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Baptist, we were with him you know once and when we were walking with him we remember that day when he pointed to you and said behold the Lamb of God and we left John the Baptist and followed you. We can't go back to John the Baptist because he would send us back to you. To whom shall we go? We've considered the

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options. We've talked about the alternatives. We can't go back to the scribes and Pharisees. You have exposed their hypocrisy. We know that they are blind, leaders of the blind. We can't go back there. That's a dead-end street. We know that now. To whom shall we go? We can't go to the Sadducees, they offer no

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hope for the future, they don't believe in the resurrection, we can't go there. The devotees of crass materialism, we can't go back there, that too is a dead end street. To whom shall we go? Well, we have no other alternative. We believe and we know that you're our only hope. We know that God the Father has somehow revealed himself to us through you and you are

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the way, you are the way we should walk, you are the way we should talk, we know and we believe that you are the answer to our problems and we have forsaken all to follow you. Others may leave, but we are staying." John reveals quite clearly there that there was a storm. There was a great controversy after he

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delivered that sermon, but they're saying, "Lord, we're going to ride out the storm. We're going to ride out the storm." And that's what it really means when the question comes to each one of us in the here and now to whom shall we go when the storms arise in our lives that we're able to say Lord we're gonna ride out

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the storm we're gonna stay with you we're gonna be faithful to that which is true we're gonna be honest we're gonna be decent we're gonna be loving we're going to be kind we're going to ride out the storm we're going to follow the way of the cross for we recognize in our heart of hearts that you are the way that

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there is no other way to the Father but by you. As we sing now I need thee every hour we extend the privilege of the church to whom shall we go? God extends to us the invitation to Christian discipleship through Jesus Christ it is ours to accept it, to believe him and to walk in wisdom's way. We invite you to

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come now. As the choir leads us in singing I need thee every hour. [ Silence ]