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Foreign thank you for engaging
with the homily by Pastor Chill Will

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from Chapel Hill. I hope this
message encourages you, challenges

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you and moves you to go deeper
in your faith and enrich how you

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love God and love your
neighbor in your day to day life.

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Just a reminder. Like the
Scriptures and Gospels themselves,

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this homily was written for a
particular community in a particular

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context, time in history and
yet, like our sacred texts, I hope

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that these words hold timeless
truths about God's unconditional

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love and grace. We hope these
words speak to you in a meaningful

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way. The Holy Gospel According
to Luke Praise to you O Lord Jesus,

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full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan and was

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led by the Spirit in the
wilderness, where for 40 days he

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was tempted by the devil. He
ate nothing at all during those days

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and when they were over he was
famished. The devil said to him,

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if you are the Son of God,
command these stones to become a

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loaf of bread. Jesus answered
him, it is written, one does not

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live by bread alone. Then the
devil led him up and showed him in

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an instant all the kingdoms of
the world. The devil said to him

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to you I will give their glory
and all this authority, for it has

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been given over to me, and I
give it to anyone whom I please.

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If you then will worship me,
it will all be yours. Jesus answered

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him, it is written, worship
the Lord your God and serve only

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him. Then the devil took him
to Jerusalem and placed him on the

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pinnacle of the temple, saying
to him, if you are the Son of God,

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throw yourself down from here,
for it is written, he will command

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his angels concerning you to
protect you, and on their hands they

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will bear you up so that you
will not dash your foot against a

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stone. Jesus answered him, it
is written, do not put the Lord your

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God to the test. The devil had
finished every test. He departed

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from him until an opportune
time. This is the Gospel of the Lord

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May be Seated. The name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

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Amen. I don't normally title
my sermons, but if I was going to

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give today's sermon a title, I
would name it Beware of Deep Fake

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Jesus. And by deepfake I'm
alluding to the growing number of

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AI images and pictures and
videos that can be doctored and created

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to give a false image, false
narrative or false reality. Let me

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be really clear up front and
honest. I'm not scared of AI or technology,

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but with all things it's how
you use it, how it can be manipulated

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and the enduring question and
calling of how we are to be good

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stewards of the tools we
create and how we use them. When

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it comes to deep faking Jesus
from the very beginning, we have

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to be honest and acknowledge
that there's been a long history

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of competing images and
narratives who seek to manipulate,

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appropriate or even commodify
Jesus and what he stood for and taught

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and lived, not just from
outside of the church but also from

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within. As Lutherans, we are a
reform movement and we are not free

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from the ongoing discernment
of reform ourselves. Like with the

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ongoing continuous work of of
being good stewards of our tools

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and the relationships
entrusted to us, those who claim

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to follow Jesus, there is an
ongoing continuous call, work and

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discernment of who we believe
Jesus to be and how that impacts

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how we live and operate in the
world. With the season of Lent and

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with the current state of our
country and world, this is a great

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time who hear the call to be
intentional and proactive in discerning

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the difference between deep
fake Jesus and Jesus who meets us

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in Word Sacrament this past
Wednesday we kicked off the season

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of Lent with Ash Wednesday
with ashes in the intentional shape

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of a cross, we not only
remember that we are mortal, that

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our time on earth is limited,
dust to dust, but we also begin our

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journey with Jesus following
him to the cross, to his execution,

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and to a world flipping
surprise at his tomb three days later.

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As we journey through the 40
days of Lent with the destination

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of Holy Week, the first Sunday
in Lent presents us with the same

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gospel story every year, the
temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

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This year we hear that story
from the Gospel of Luke during the

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season of Epiphany. Remember?
Wow, I had an epiphany. It is revealed

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to us that at Jesus's baptism
we hear a voice from heaven say,

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this is my son in the
synagogue. With his teaching and

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first sermon, Jesus reveals
his mission and priorities and makes

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them clear that in him
Isaiah's vision is fulfilled, that

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there is good news for the
poor, there is release to the captive,

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there is sight for the blind,
there is freedom for the oppressed.

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Jesus then calls a group of
fishermen on the margins and on the

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underside of success, and he
calls them to be his disciples to

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share in this vision and
priority list. And then, if it wasn't

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clear in the Beatitudes, Jesus
teaches, blessed are the poor, blessed

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are the hungry, blessed are
those who weep. Countercultural indeed,

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not how the world operates if
you want to be successful. Holding

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all that in heart and mind, we
embark on this 40 day journey to

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the Week we call holy and the
Friday we call good. And we begin

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with Jesus's head to head duel
with the devil tempter Esther, Satan,

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and their attempt to deep fake
Jesus. Now, I know that there's a

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lot of baggage attached to
theological and pop cultural depictions

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of the devil and Satan and we
don't have time this morning in a

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15 and a half minute sermon,
well, maybe 15 minutes to unpack

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all that. But this literary
device to show what's going on with

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Jesus and what kind of messiah
he is is in continuity with Genesis

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in the book of Job. In Luke,
after Jesus's baptism, he's filled

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with the Holy Spirit. And
before he embarks on his journey

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of messiahship, we get this
kind of Rocky Balboa, Karate Kid,

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Cobra Kai training montage.
There are three tests. First up,

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food. Bread. Hey, Jesus, who I
just overheard, you're the Messiah

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and the son of God. You've
been out here in the wilderness a

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while. That biblical number of
40 days of testing and it appears

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that you're hungry. What do
you say? Use your power and influence

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to turn these stones into
bread. Turn inward, consume. Jesus

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resists. Quotes Deuteronomy,
Jesus's favorite book. One does not

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live by bread alone. The
devil's like, dang it. Try again.

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Next up, power, where we
direct our worship. Okay, take a

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look at all this. All the
kingdoms of the world, you could

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have it all. The power of the
dark side. We could rule the universe.

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Bow down to earthly power.
Sell out. Who needs weakness? Who

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needs empathy and mercy.
Boring. Command the room. Command

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the world. Command the
universe. Jesus resists and recites

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the first commandment. Worship
the Lord your God and serve only

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God. I envision the devil
being like, oh, okay, this is going

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to be hard, but one more. The
next test, the final one for now,

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showing off ego. Okay, if
you're the son of God, prove it.

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Let them see you fly. Be a
superman. Everyone loves a superhero.

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Make a spectacle. Use your
power and influence to get lots of

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attention. Make it all about
you. And if you can quote, I can

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quote scripture too. For it is
written, angels were to protect and

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catch you. We heard it in the
91st Psalm this morning. Jesus spars

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back. It is said, do not put
Lord your God to the test. Okay,

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you won this time, but you'll
see me again. Lest we reduce the

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devil to a cartoon character,
the very serious temptation is to

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turn Jesus into something he's
not. A deep fake Jesus that bows

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and submits to control and
power and profit. Profit with an

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it turning inward rather than
outward. And what's at stake in this

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story and for our Linton
journey and for our whole journey

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of faith, is the vocation of
the Messiah. We heard Jesus's mission

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and priorities. The tester,
the tempter is like, don't do Messiah

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that way. The Devil's Messiah
Success Seminar seeks power and profit.

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Maybe Jesus could get you
crucified. This temptation and testing

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solidifies Jesus's mission and
priorities. What does it mean to

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be the Messiah, the Son of
God? Well, for Jesus, it means standing

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in solidarity with all of
humanity. It means his story becomes

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intertwined with our story. It
means a priority list that focuses

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on the other, the poor, the
hungry, the oppressed. And it involves

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a cross. So I don't care if
you believe in God, but I do care

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what kind of God you believe
in and worship, because that affects

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how you see yourself and me
and how will you see and treat your

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neighbor. I don't care if you
believe in Christ, but I do care

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in what kind of Christ you
believe. Follow. Yes, there's a vibe

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shift with the season of Lent.
And yet the good news of the season

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is that it calls us to examine
and reexamine that ultimate reality,

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takes up sandals and enters
the wilderness with us. He doesn't

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do messiahship as a lone
ranger who needs all the power and

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attention. He calls and
empowers 12 and then expands and

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empowers from there a
community and a group of mortal human

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beings to do the same verbs
that he's doing. And so, as we examine

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Jesus and his response to
hunger and power and the seductive

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nature of attention, not only
in this specific story, but over

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his entire life, over all of
his teachings and his final week

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of life, we as his followers
are faced with the same questions,

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the same tests. What is our
response to hunger? What is our response

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to power? What is our response
to attention? In our baptismal liturgy,

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we open ourselves up to the
good news that we are claimed beloved

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children of God, and that this
covenant with God, birthed out of

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water to create new life,
comes with questions and responses.

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In that liturgy, we ask the
person being baptized or the family

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who brings their child to the
grace filled waters? I ask you to

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profess your faith, reject
sin, and confess the faith of the

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church. Do you renounce the
devil and all the forces that defy

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God? We say, I renounce them.
Do you announce the ways of sin that

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draw you from God? Do you
renounce the ways of sin that draw

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you, that defy God? And we
answer, I renounce with the gift

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of baptism Jesus's priority
list. We are entrusted with responsibilities

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to proclaim Christ through
word and deed, to care for others

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in the world God made and to
work for justice and peace. We respond

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I do. I ask God to help me. So
over the season of Lent let us examine

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and re examine what kind of
Messiah in Christ Jesus is and isn't.

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Let us beware of deep fake
Jesus, of false Christs, of antichrists,

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of parody Christs. Let us
follow Jesus together to the week

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that we call holy and the
Friday we call good, knowing that

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Jesus leads the way. We
respond I will. I ask God to help.

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Thank you for listening. If
there is anything that stood out

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for you or if you have a
question or you just want to have

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a conversation, you are always
free to reach out and contact us.

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And remember you are not alone
and that you are loved with a love

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stronger than death.