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[ Noise ] [music] ♪ No life in my heart ♪ ♪ No life in my ♪

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♪ No life in my heart ♪ ♪ Is free ♪ ♪ Jesus, give me ♪ ♪ No life in my heart ♪

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♪ Is free ♪ ♪ No life in my heart ♪ ♪ And let me love the one who's on this tree ♪ ♪ I'm so glad he's a king ♪

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♪ And let me love the one who's free ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm so glad he is so sweet ♪ [music] ♪ There's a man on the sky ♪

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♪ Better ask me if I'm blessed in life ♪ ♪ If I'm blessed in life ♪ ♪ Better ask me if I'm ♪ ♪ Better ask me if I'm in peace ♪

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♪ I'm so glad Jesus came to me ♪ ♪ Your house is my city ♪ ♪ God is mine ♪ ♪ God is mine ♪

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♪ God is mine ♪ ♪ I'll be crowned ♪ ♪ For the destiny ♪ ♪ That has my hero left behind ♪

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♪ Everlasting life ♪ ♪ Everlasting life ♪ ♪ Everlasting love ♪ ♪ Free ♪

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♪ I'm so glad ♪ ♪ Jesus came to me ♪ ♪ Everlasting love ♪ ♪ Born in his dreams ♪

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♪ Everlasting love ♪ ♪ Everlasting love ♪ ♪ Everlasting love ♪ ♪ Born in his dreams ♪

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♪ I'm so proud of him ♪ ♪ Jesus came to me ♪ ♪ Everlasting love ♪ ♪ His dreams ♪

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And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof.

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And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto man. And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

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She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall crave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

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And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. I have read in this second chapter, verses 21 through 25. [Pause]

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May we pray, this evening, our Heavenly Father, for coming to thy presence, acknowledging our sins and asking thee to forgive us. We pray, dear Lord, for the dissipation of thy Holy Spirit. We pray, dear Lord, that we may be conscious of our duty here on earth. We pray dear Lord for the speaker that is going to speak to us today and help us to accept the message and be able to go out and do great work for you.

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Oh God we pray for our church here and we pray dear Lord for the outreach program of our church. We pray dear Lord that we feel sometime that we have been fishing in shallow water. But help us to be grateful and help us to look on the fields and be willing to launch out into the deep. Help us, dear Lord, that through our efforts, your name may be glorified.

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We pray, dear Lord, a special prayer for those that have birthdays on our prayer calendar today. You know their needs and you know where they are, and grant them, if it's our holy and righteous will. And we not only pray for those missionaries who have birthdays, but we pray for the missionaries all over the land and country who are serving, making a sacrifice to win others to thee. We pray to the Lord that their efforts may not be in vain. Help us, dear Lord, to be always willing to share what we have with others.

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And that we come praying for our church at large, and we pray a special prayer for our pastor, for his family. We pray, dear Lord, that we may have love one for another, and that we may feel each other's care. And at all times, dear Lord, may we be willing to go out into highways and hedges and compel men to come to them. We pray dear Lord for the sinner man that's walking in darkness today.

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Touch him some way, somehow before his tomb. This we ask in the name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen. [ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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♪ I'd rather have Jesus ♪ ♪ Than the silver or gold ♪ ♪ I'd rather be his ♪ ♪ Than have riches on town's wood ♪

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I'd rather have Jesus than a house that's on the loose. ♪ I'd rather be led ♪ ♪ By his nail-pierced hands ♪ ♪ Than to be the king ♪

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♪ Of the world ♪ ♪ Only ♪ ♪ Of the earth ♪ ♪ In the sea ♪

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♪ To the sea ♪ ♪ I am now ♪ ♪ The help of Jesus ♪ ♪ The healing ♪

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♪ In this world ♪ ♪ Of today ♪ ♪ I rather have Jesus ♪ ♪ That is the plot ♪

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♪ I'd rather be faithful ♪ ♪ To his dear past ♪ ♪ I'd rather have Jesus ♪ ♪ And world of wide fame ♪

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♪ Boy, the rock ♪ ♪ Shall be true ♪ ♪ To his home in Name ♪ ♪ Glad to be ♪

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♪ Glad to be ♪ ♪ Oh, what joy ♪ ♪ I will ever ♪ ♪ In sin ♪

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♪ Transgress ♪ ♪ I'm glad ♪ ♪ The happy Jesus ♪ ♪ That he ♪

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♪ Be ♪ ♪ In ♪ ♪ His world ♪ ♪ Of old ♪

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♪ Today ♪ ♪ And to me ♪ ♪ The King ♪ ♪ How a light ♪

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♪ Glowing ♪ ♪ Can be filled ♪ ♪ With spirit ♪ ♪ And strength ♪

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♪ I'm glad ♪ ♪ The heaven Jesus ♪ ♪ That in this day ♪ ♪ This world ♪

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♪ Have pause ♪ ♪ Today ♪ [music] Madam Chairman and Christian friends, did you ever wonder what Elgin was like when we grew up there?

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Then there were two railroad crossroads that marked a little town by the countryside, the southern Pacific from Austin to Houston, and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas from Denison to Houston. Now, Highway 290 passes through Main Street. It makes a curve and bypasses the Little Town.

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On the northeast side of this Little Town, on a small farm, is where we grew up. Our speaker is one of a ten-member family. I was so proud of my little sister. I wanted her to be named Angel, Little Angel.

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Our childhood days were busy but happy ones. We did household and farm chores. One household chore was dish washing all the time. She often left her dishes for me to do.

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So one day when they were almost finished, I found her out on the porch looking at a Sears and Roebuck catalog. We shared the ownership of a big teddy bear. Now she has a chair full of bears at her house. We had play school at home. The classroom was a crowded one. We made rag dolls for pupils and taught them the three R's. There were enough of us to play ball, so we played ball. And one-eyed the cat was a popular fun game. Also basketball and sprint races.

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Public school gave the background for other girls. At Booker T. Washington School, subject matter was supplemented with interscholastic league events. She was a winner. After graduation from Washington School at Ellion, she earned a high school diploma from Samuel Houston College, later a Bachelor of Arts degree from Samuel Houston College. She earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Texas. Her teaching career began at Kimbrough.

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She was an English and reading teacher at Anderson High School and chairman of the English department at Anderson High School. And while there, she was cited in Who's Who in America and secondary education. At present, she is an English and reading teacher at Reagan High School.

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Her early religious training began at home. Dad and Mama taught us a Sunday school lesson at home before we went to church. My Mariah Baptist Church gave specific training in Sunday school and BYUPU, where she was a member. On coming to Austin to attend Samuel Houston College, she joined Ebenezer Baptist Church and was appointed a teacher of a class.

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She has taught Sunday school and is a Bible class teacher and a member of the Women's Mission Society. Shortly after she started to teaching, she was united in holy wedlock to her childhood sweetheart, Mr. Harold Arnold. They have two daughters. Her travels include 40 states in the United States, Canada, Mexico, British Isles, and continental Europe. All the places of travel just now, she was accompanied by her husband.

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She made several trips alone to Washington, D.C. to visit her daughters. I pinned this little cameo on me, on my bow today. She brought it back to me from the Vatican City, the Holy City. I feel honored and blessed to have the privilege to present our speaker today, my sister, Mrs. Verma W. Arnold.

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Thank you, Fairbanks. Christian friends, members of the family of God, she was always my ideal and inspiration. Truly, I consider it a high honor and a rare privilege

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and a very real pleasure to have the opportunity to rediscover with you in a few short minutes a heart-to-heart, down-to-earth talk about some of the seemingly lost values

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of our most precious heritage, the Christian home. As she said, we grew up in a large family. And I should always remember, I really hoped that Mother could be here this afternoon,

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but 91 years, she turned 91 years on the 5th of May, 91 years, 55 years of married life, and 10 children, could I ask for more? But I feel the power of her prayers, even as I stand here.

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Home is the greatest of all institutions. It is a child's first school, and it is here that the foundation should be laid for our life service.

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Its principles are to shape the whole life training. Such an education must be based upon the word of God, The Bible should be the foundation of study and teaching. Timothy remembered how he was taught the Holy Scriptures

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during his early childhood by his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. These teachings made him wise to accept God's salvation by trusting in Jesus Christ.

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A church within a church, a republic within a republic, A world within a world is spelled by four letters, H-O-M-E, home. If things go right there, they go right everywhere. If things go wrong there, they go wrong everywhere.

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The door sill of the dwelling house is the foundation of the church and state. In other words, domestic life over arches and under girds all other life, first, last, and all the time,

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have Christ in the home. In the religious realm, as in every other realm of life, learning is an aid and incentive to action. We do not spend our time acquiring a great wealth

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of information merely to satisfy our own appetite for knowledge. but to make life richer and more effective in service. It is not what we know that is most significant in our lives,

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but it's the use we make of what we know. A man who listened to Dwight L. Moody preach afterwards told him that he had counted 11 grammatical errors when he had made the --

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which he had made during his sermon, To which Mr. Moody replied, "I'm really surprised that you did not notice more mistakes than that. My formal education is limited. I never had the opportunity of spending much time in school. But I am doing the best I can with what I have. What are you doing with yours?

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Friends, shall we here stop and ask ourselves the same question? "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." These are the words of Solomon, the wisest of ancient kings and one of the most faithful martyrs. In a dream a divine voice offered to the youthful king whatsoever his heart should pray.

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He prayed for wisdom, which was granted. Solomon listened to the voice of God and reigned for several years in justice and equity, a wise and benevolent prince who was taught from his youth to fear God and to seek his wisdom. Although loyal to the God of his fathers, Solomon was not exempted from grave faults. The gods that ruined Solomon and turned his life to sorrow were gods of pride, power, prosperity,

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in addition to the gods of the pagans, which he admitted to his kingdom. What was true of Solomon then is just as true of us today. What are some of the gods we are tempted to worship? Pride, prejudice, prosperity, indifference, selfishness, worldliness.

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Let us remember his final utterances. All these things which men prize and seek are a vanity, a delusion, and a snare. There is no wisdom except in the fear of God. Nothing brings a true reward but virtue, unselfish labors for others, supreme loyalty to conscience, and obedience to God.

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As a rule, children will reflect the life and principles manifested in their parents. The reason why so many children are irreverent, irreligious, and disobedient is that we, as parents, are so. Like parents, like children. If we as parents would see a different state of things, we must ourselves reform.

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We must bring God back into the home and make his word our counsel and guide. "Return unto me, and I will return unto you," said the Lord. In too many households, prayer is neglected. If ever there was a time when every house should be a house of prayer, it is now.

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We often hear the saying, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." This agrees with the saying of the wise old man who trained up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. No father or mother knows the future of a little child trapped in a bottle of syrup.

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But God knows, as he did in the cases of Moses and Esther and Timothy, Whether it is his purpose for some of our children to rule the world, as did Joseph and Daniel, as prime ministers. Or to march for freedom and justice for all mankind, as did Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Or to spread the gospel through song, as did Mahatma Jackson.

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awe for some to serve and suffer for the name of Christ, as did Peter, John, and Paul. Who knows but which of the little ones who gather around Pastor Griffin each Sunday morning

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during the children's hour will stir the nation with sacred music as Virgie B. Whitting, will interpret the Constitution of the United States as Barbara Jordan, will find the way

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cure for cancer, will search the mysteries of God and develop food products to feed starving nations as did Dr. George Washington Carver with the lowly peanut and Dr. Percy Julian with the soya bean. It is our sacred privilege to teach the children faithfully and diligently during their tender years.

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No position in life is superior to that of mother. No influence more potent for good or evil. A Christian mother, above all others, can deeply implant and faithfully cherish

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the seeds of truth in the young and tender heart. More even than the father, the mother promotes the life, character, and destiny of man. Every stage and phase of life is touched and influenced

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by her. Infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, and old age alike look to her for inspiration. Thus, she is both the morning and the evening star of life.

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It has been truly said that the home is the primeval school, the best, the most hallowed, the most potential of all academies, and that the mother is the first, the most influential, and therefore the most important of all teachers. The oldest university was not on India's strand, nor in the Valley of the Nile, nor

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on Arabia's sand. From times beginning, it is taught, and still it teaches free. It's learning mild to every child,

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the school of mother's name. The oldest school to teach the law, and teach it deeply too, dividing what should not be done from what each one should do. Was not in Rome or Isfahan, nor by the Uzine Sea,

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but it held its sway ere history stayed, the school of Mother's Name. The oldest seminary where theology was taught, where love to God and reverent prayer

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and the eternal art were deep impressed on youthful hearts in pure sincerity, came to the earth with Abel's birth, the school of Mother's Name. The oldest and the newest too,

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It still maintains its place, and from its classes ever full, it graduates the race. Without its teaching, where would all the best of living be? It was planned by heaven, this earth to leaven,

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the school of mother's need. Before I sit down, I should like to ask my childhood sweetheart and companion for the last 40 years to stand. And of course I know you all know him.

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I, every year, Harold has always given me a gift that would last, a lasting gift. The first year he gave me a cedar chest.

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And last September, he gave me this watch. It's Mother of Pearl Face, and I'm very, very proud of it. And when he gave it to me, he said, "41 years," he said, "It seems just like yesterday that we were married."

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And I told him, I said, "Well, it certainly has been a struggle." And he said, "But a sweet struggle." And so we go all Christian friends struggling together

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to do what Christ wants us to do. and we hope that God is pleased. - Thank you, Sister Arnold, for that splendid advice. For we feel that no institution can go anywhere

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except it begins in the home. And so, as our soloist comes to us, our prayer is that we as Christians will go on and on preserving our Christian heritage.

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♪ Is there anyone ♪ One who understands our hearts When the thorns of life have pierced them 'Til they bleed One who sympathizes with us ♪ When one grows, love will fall ♪

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♪ Just the very, very blessing ♪ ♪ That we need ♪ ♪ Yes, there's one ♪ ♪ Only one ♪

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♪ He's the blessed, blessed Jesus ♪ ♪ He's the one ♪ ♪ When afflictions press the soul ♪ ♪ And when waves of trouble roll ♪

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And you need a friend to help you. He's the one. Is there anyone can help you when your burdens are too bad? When you faint and fall beneath it in a lull.

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In tenderness we'll lift you and our heavy burdens share and support us with an everlasting arm. Yes, there's one, only one. He's the blessed, blessed Jesus.

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He's the one. When afflictions press the soul, And when waves of trouble roll, And you need a friend to help you,

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He's the one. Yes, there's one. Only one. He's the blessed, blessed Jesus.

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He's the one. When afflictions press the soul, And when waves of trouble roll, And you need a friend to help you,

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He's the one. All of us as Christians know that when the way gets weak, and when we are crushed, that the friend is Jesus. He really is the one.

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We have been challenged again by that solo. And as we look about at our program, our theme, preserving the Christian heritage, and our challenge came to us from Sister Arnold

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concerning the home. Let's look what we did today with people at home. Our speaker today was a person who has been in Ebenezer a long time. I was so low is one who has grown up here in Ebenezer. This is what mission

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is all about, helping us to grow in an understanding and in wisdoming knowledge and being able to really express our experience. We now come to another beginning. Our finance committee will be coming forward. And we'd like to say that this has been a glorious day.

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You know a chain can be so long, but until all the links are linked together, we do not know the strength of it. The strength comes from the women and men of Ebeneezer, and we are very proud of them today.

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Sister Fisher and your committee, will you come forward, please? [Pause] Would all our vistas stand please?

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[Pause] If we have vistas, would you stand please? Thank you. [Pause]

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Our pastor, would you stand while we welcome you. Our pastor and members of Ebenezer would like to welcome you and thank you for being here with us today. We would like for you to feel at home. I'm sure that you have enjoyed the message coming from our own Mrs. Arnold. We would like for you to come back to visit with us again.

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If you do not have a church home, feel welcome to unite with us. Thank you. An announcement, please. Immediately following this closing of this meeting,

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There will be a reception in Fellowship Hall. Please join us there. Also, you will miss a treat if you don't come back tonight to hear our Baptist young women, "No Cross, No Crown."

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This will culminate our activities. Please come back. Now, Pastor Rick. Sister Mackey, the general chairperson, and all of the members of the teams and the captains,

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especially to our speaker, Sister Arnold, our guest, I want to say to the sisters that you have done it again. This is certainly a very splendid observance thus far, this morning and this afternoon, with the splendid address brought by our own sister Arnold,

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we have a way of selecting our speakers. We sort of leave it up to the sisters to decide whether it's going to be a person here in our fellowship or someone out of our fellowship or out of town.

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And so this year the sisters selected our own sister Arnold, and she did a tremendous job. She brought a message that certainly all of us could appreciate, and I got to learn some things about her that I didn't know, and the great family that she comes from, and certainly the experiences that she has had are helpful to us, and she makes a very meaningful witness here right among us. Sometimes we can go far away, but it's always good to appreciate someone at home.

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And we certainly appreciate her and you for all that you have done. General Chairperson and what the plans were this year, the Finance Committee, they've always done a good job, but this year they've made some improvements in the way the report is given.

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And I just want to thank every one of you from the bottom of my heart for making Woman's day this year a grand and glorious observance. Thank you. Thank you Reverend Griffin. Immediately following the benediction we're going to ask Mr. Ong to join his wife here and wait until we go to the, until Mrs. Ong and he proceed to the reception hall please. Thank you. Now for the benediction.

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Let us pray. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his confidence upon you and give you peace now and always. Amen.

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