tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22009043731790594032024-03-08T08:13:36.706-08:00MBC WomenJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17966538115409940477noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200904373179059403.post-10394741772256305172013-05-05T14:55:00.000-07:002013-05-05T14:55:00.713-07:00<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Therefore let us
be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>following<i>
</i>the same<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>example of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>disobedience. </span><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Hebrews 4:11 NASB</span></i><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Do you ever struggle to believe God’s promises to you? To
believe that His intentions in real life—your life—are as good as they look on
paper? I do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In college and seminary, although I was daily confronted with
God’s wisdom, power, and love through the teaching of godly professors, I often
gave in to doubt in my personal walk. I
can remember stumbling down the sidewalk to my apartment after classes one day,
thinking <i>“God doesn’t have a wonderful
plan for my life, like He does for other people. I don’t think He cares anymore; I’ve
disappointed Him too often, and now He’s just silently putting up with me.” </i>Those
days, I was doubting because of unwanted circumstances. Now, even though God has provided some of the
things I longed for most, I still find reason to disbelieve His goodness—now it’s
questioning His saving purpose in my life because He still allows me to
frequently sin. <i>You say Your Spirit is conforming me to the image of Christ. Oh yeah?
Then why was I awful to my husband for the third time today?</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Recently God, in His grace, brought me face to face with the
true nature of disbelief through an account recorded in the book of Numbers,
convicting me of my sin and showing me how wrong my thinking is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is an intense time in the Israeli camp.
Not many days before, a man was stoned to death for breaking the
Sabbath. Jehovah had added this
epitaph to the execution: “So you shall remember and do all my commandments,
and be holy to your God</span></i><b><i><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out
of the land of Egypt to be your God.</span></i></b><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #e5b8b7; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 102;">Numbers 15<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Now,
two leaders of the tribe of Levi are staging an outright mutiny. Their
contention is with Moses’ leadership, and in their fury they make the
following claim: “Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a
land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must
make yourself a prince over us? Moreover you have not brought us into a land
flowing with milk and honey…”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #e5b8b7; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 102;">Numbers 16<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Their
first allegation is astonishing. </span></i><b><i><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Moses brought them out of a land flowing with
milk and honey?</span></i></b><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> No indeed—he
was God’s shepherd to lead Israel out of the misery of bondage in Egypt, for
the high privilege of being set apart as God’s chosen people. God’s magnificent promises to them included
a home in the fertile, bountiful land of Canaan. But in their rebellion, these men willfully
turned God’s promises upside down.
They cast Egypt as the real land of blessing. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Even
more outrageous is their follow-up statement: </span></i><b><i><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">“You
have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey</span></i></b><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">, nor given
us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.”
After castigating Moses for bringing them out of Egypt in the first
place, now these men are blaming him for the failure to enter Canaan! Keep in mind the real reason for the
failure: as a nation, Israel had refused to trust God and had rebelled
against His faithfulness. They had an
opportunity to enter the land of milk and honey, but instead their unbelief
resulted in exile that would last forty long years.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #e5b8b7; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 102;">13-14<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ridiculous,
isn’t it? Those Israeli men were so blatantly
wrong in their statements about God and reality! And yet we do exactly the same thing when we
turn our experiences into a reason to doubt God. In the New Testament writings God declares His
commitment to making His children more and more like Christ, giving us greater joy
and giving Him greater glory. When our lives
seem undesirable in small ways or in profound ones, this isn’t an indication
that God has stopped being interested. Difficult
circumstances are often the very thing He uses to lovingly make us more like His
Son. Even the daily experience of sin can
be a reminder of God’s constant goodness to us.
While my sins are still totally offensive to a holy God, His Word tells
me over and over that Jesus Christ died and rose again as the sufficient
sacrifice for <i>all</i> my sin, and that
because of Him I’m accepted by the Father now and forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In Hebrews 3
and 4, the writer admonishes us to take God at His word and to trust Him—and
warns us <i>not</i> to follow the example of
unbelieving Israel. What part of God’s
Word are you finding it difficult to believe?
Does the example of Israel in Numbers 16 remind you at all of yourself? What
is a practical way you can remind yourself of the gospel and find rest in Jesus
Christ’s work for you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17966538115409940477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200904373179059403.post-64631173183158792842013-03-10T13:26:00.000-07:002013-03-11T18:25:06.568-07:00<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;">“Come to Me,
all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”</span></i></b><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;"> </span><b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;">Matthew 12:28-30</span></i></b><b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Matthew’s gospel has an interesting arrangement: We see Jesus <i>doing</i> things for a while, then we see Him <i>saying</i> things for a while—chunks of action alternating with chunks
of teaching. (If you have a Bible with words
of Christ in red, you’ll see a few pages of mostly black text alternating with
a few pages of mostly red.) Our theme
verse comes at the end of a “red section,” so it’s helpful to look at what else
Jesus says there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">First, Jesus sends his disciples out on a mission
saying “go nowhere among the Gentiles…but go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.” He warns them that
they’ll face much opposition from the Jews, but that the reward will be worth it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Then He spends some time answering the question “are
you the Messiah?” Jesus points out that
that the Law and the Prophets predicted what both He and John the Baptist were
doing, but very few people believed it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Continuing on the topic of unbelief, Jesus also points
out that the towns where He did a lot of His miracles refused to believe He was
the Messiah—which made them more wicked than even Sodom and Gomorrah!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Finally, Jesus talks about the people who <i>will</i> believe He is the promised Messiah:
not the important religious leaders, but people who might be viewed as lowly
and unimportant but trusting, like children.
This is where our text comes in.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you see a theme? Lost sheep of Israel…Law and Prophets…the
Messiah… </span><b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">These
pages show Jesus speaking especially to the people of Israel.</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> (Not too much farther on Matthew will show
how Israel’s unbelief reaches a climax. Jesus will start speaking against the
leaders more strongly, and ultimately He’ll turn his focus to the upcoming
Church.) Knowing who Jesus’ original
audience is will help us understand what He said to them.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;">“Come to me, you who labor and are heavy-laden.” </span></i></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> We can think of many things in our modern world
that fit this description: raising a busy family; having mounting
responsibilities at work; being deeply involved in ministry; carrying a heavy weight
of expectations. Is this what Jesus had
in mind? Maybe, but it’s also possible
he was speaking specifically to people who were heavily burdened with man-made Jewish
commandments. In addition to the Law
given by God through Moses, down through the years the religious leaders had
added many other laws. For example, God’s
command not to work on the Sabbath now included </span><b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">“a woman
cannot look in a mirror on the Sabbath, because she might be tempted to pull
out a gray hair and that would be work.”
</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Seriously! The people
of Jesus’ day labored under a massive rule system that ultimately did <i>nothing</i> for them. In His compassion, Jesus reached out and
offered them rest from their unending, useless effort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;">“Take My yoke upon you and learn from
Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Here
are three observations that may help us understand Jesus' words better:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Yoke”</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> was often
used as a metaphor for the Law as interpreted by the rabbis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <b>“Learn from Me”</b> is something a rabbi
might say—an invitation to learn from an expert in the Law. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You will
find rest for your souls”</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> is probably a direct quote from Jeremiah 6:16. There God says to Israel:<i> “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where
the good way is; and walk in it, and <b>find
rest for your souls.</b> But they said,
‘We will not walk in it.’ I set watchmen over you, saying ‘Pay attention to the
sound of a trumpet!’ But they said ‘We will not pay attention.’” </i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Look at Israel’s response in the Jeremiah text. In verse 19 God goes on to say <i>“they have not
paid attention to My words, and as for My law, they have rejected it.”</i> Doesn’t that look a lot like the response Jesus
just described in Matthew? Like the
prophet Jeremiah, Jesus was God’s Messenger to bring Israel back to Himself and
His perfect Law but the people refused to listen or believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In some ways the situations in Jeremiah and Matthew are
different. In Jeremiah’s day, the people
outright rejected God and His Law. In
Matthew’s day the people <i>looked</i> like
they were super-dedicated to God’s Law, but they exalted their own efforts and
ended up rejecting God Himself. In both
cases, though, </span><b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">the people needed a
rest for their souls that was only available if they came to God on <i>His</i> terms.</span></b><b><span style="color: #943634; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"> </span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Jesus, the Messiah of
Israel, was offering to show Israel the true purpose of the Law. They needed to trust Him, repent, and return
to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #d99594; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themetint: 153;">So how does
this speak to us today?</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We’re not burdened under the Jewish Law; in Ephesians the Apostle
Paul says the Church is a “new man” created apart from the Law. But are we not still tempted to rely on our
own efforts to win God’s favor? Don’t we
sometimes feel the pressure of unwritten rules that determine whether we are a
success or a failure? Doesn’t our pride
often fuel a need to appear super-spiritual?
In the midst of these temptations, our hearts still crave a rest for our
souls. We, as believers today, must
still come to God on <i>His</i> terms for us;
we must come to Him through Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Complete in Thee, no
work of mine<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">May take, dear Lord,
the place of Thine;<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Thy blood hath pardon bought for me, <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">And I am now complete
in Thee.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Yea justified, O
blessed thought! <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">And sanctified! Salvation
wrought! <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Thy blood hath pardon
bought for me, <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #943634; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">And glorified I, too,
shall be!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17966538115409940477noreply@blogger.com0