#33. Leviticus 1-4 | "The Book of Love and a Kiss"

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Your to-do list has never been longer,

but have you ever needed Jesus more?

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If you're a mom, longing to focus

on what matters for eternity, but

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feeling overwhelmed by the duties

of motherhood, this is for you.

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This isn't to make the Bible about us.

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It's to make our homes about him.

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Welcome to the Dwelling

Place I'm Stephanie Hickox,

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from Entrusted Ministries.

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As I've been preparing for this

series, the book of Leviticus has

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renewed my absolute gratitude for

the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

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The recording tool I used to record

this podcast will allow me to

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transcribe my words after I say them.

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And interestingly, there were some

points where I said the book of

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Leviticus and it transcribed it

as the book of love and a kiss.

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I'm always gonna think of that now.

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When I think of Leviticus,

I know it's February.

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And typically this is not a

book of the Bible that people

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really look forward to reading.

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But what I'm going to do is continue

to point you to the New Testament in

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Jesus's fulfillment of these passages.

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I promise you, the Lord has so much

to say for us in this book, and

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I encourage you to stick with us

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because guess what?

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The last episode of this month, we're

actually gonna get to look at a Psalm.

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So stay faithful, keep your eyes and ears

on the perfect revelation of God's word.

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Have you ever learned to do

something the hard way and later

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someone showed you the easy way?

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We study what used to be

required so we can fully embrace

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what Jesus bought for us.

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Allow me a little time to

paint an analogy for you.

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And after I do, I'll read some key

verses from our reading for today,

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talk about how they point to Jesus.

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And then as always, I'll close in

prayer over you and your children.

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Did you know that our children

from the age of zero to 18

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will need about 19,000 meals?

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And we all know there's a

lot of snacking between.

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When I think about the effort that has

been required of me over the years,

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it makes me exhausted to even look

back between the meal planning, which

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begins with my desire to find the

impossible intersection between things

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that are affordable, healthy, and

that my whole family actually likes.

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Recipes that exist at that

juncture are few and far between.

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Then after I make my meal plan,

bundling my kids up often in our frigid

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Chicago weather, getting them in their

car seats, and then stuffing those

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bundled bodies into shopping carts.

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Then walking through grocery stores,

reading every single food label

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because of severe food allergies.

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Then purchasing the groceries while

thanking God for providing, then coming

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home, unloading the kids, unloading

the groceries, and then at this point,

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of course, they're all hungry and

need me to cook something right away

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then there's all the work

preparing the food and the meals.

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And it seems that just as you

finally finish clearing the kitchen

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from one meal, a child enters the

room and says they're hungry again.

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And the process repeats day after

day, and then you walk into the

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laundry room and realize you need to

stay and treat the clothes that are

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soiled from the meals you just made.

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It's a never ending cycle, and I

realize that there are grocery pickup

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services and things now, but when my

kids were toddlers, that didn't exist.

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And often those services have

been out of reach for our budget.

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As my kids have gotten older, I

haven't had to stuff them into

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shopping carts, but they eat more.

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And just maintaining a supply of snacks

and food ready to go is daunting.

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All of this meal prep is a huge

part of what we do as mothers.

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Even though it's truly important, it

often feels mundane and relentless.

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But I want you to imagine that one day

someone knocked at your door with a

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fully prepared set of meals for the week.

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Everything was absolutely ready.

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It was safe for everyone's

allergies and restrictions.

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It was delicious and would be

enjoyed by all and already paid for.

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And you didn't even have to lift a finger.

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And all the deliverer said was, will

you sit down and eat this with me?

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And that's what I think of when

I read the book of Leviticus.

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The entire book describes a path

for us to be restored to a holy God.

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And all over the New Testament,

we learned that Jesus's

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sacrifice was once and for all.

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When you read Through God's clear and

thorough directions of how to be restored

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to forgiveness, I pray that every

sentence would fill you with a depth of

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thankfulness for the sacrifice of Jesus

Christ and what he did on the cross.

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We can rejoice that we live in the

time of the New Testament in which

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the sacrificial law was repealed.

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At the last Supper, Jesus told us he

was instituting a new covenant and that

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he was now the substitute for our sins.

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We might look at the list

of sacrifices and think, why

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did the animals have to die?

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If you're around my age, you might even

be thinking about a Kate Hudson Cliff

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when she's pretending to be a vegetarian

and singing Mary Had a Little Lamb.

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Really, when we think about these

animals sacrificing for arson,

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it's difficult to comprehend.

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It can be hard for us with our

human perspective to understand

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why blood had to be sacrificed.

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But when we look to the word, we have

clarity that this is really the only

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way Leviticus 1711 tells us for the

life of the flesh is in the blood.

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And I have given it for you on the

altar to make atonement for your souls.

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For it is the blood that

makes atonement by the life.

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And then we look forward to Hebrews 9 22.

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We learn without the shedding of

blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

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We might not completely understand why

this is the path of restoration with

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the Holy God, but we can trust it's the

only way, and he would not sacrifice

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his only son unless it were absolutely

necessary to restore us back to him.

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Reading Leviticus helps

us grasp more deeply.

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God's desire to dwell

with the holy people.

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My moody commentary says it

so well when it states he is a

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redeeming God, who though unseen

by human eyes, desires interaction

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between himself and his people.

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The God who brought Israel out of

bondage of slavery still redeems

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his chosen ones from slavery.

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Believers today hear his call to be

a holy nation and will be brought to

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his dwelling place at the end, and we

can see that the world is in the state

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that it is in because people are out of

fellowship with a holy God throughout

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the course of Leviticus Holiness is

mentioned 152 times, and that's more

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than any other book of the Bible.

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We aren't just to be left with gratitude.

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We're called to be transformed

in the way we live over 50 times.

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God says, I am the Lord and I am holy.

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In this book of the Bible, there is a

lot of focus on ritual purity, but we

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can consistently see that God cares about

the heart of those that are sacrificing.

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We'll get into what the different

sacrifices mean, but let me just point

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out a few patterns that appear in

these first four chapters of Leviticus.

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So you can clearly see the

heart of God in this book.

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In Leviticus four, it begins, and

the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak

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to the people of Israel saying if

one sins unintentionally, and any

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of the Lord's commands about things

not to be done, and does one of

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them, if it is the anointed priest.

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Who sins.

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Thus bringing guilt on the people, then he

shall offer for the sin he has committed.

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Then in verse 13, if the whole

congregation of Israel's sins

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unintentionally and the thing is hidden

from the eyes of the assembly, and

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they do any one of the things by the

Lord's commandments that ought not to

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be done, and they realize their guilt

when the sin which they have committed

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becomes known, the assembly shall offer

a bull from the herd for a sin offering.

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And then in verse 22, when a leader

sins doing unintentionally, any one

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of the things that by the commandments

of the Lord, his God ought not to be

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done and realizes his guilt or the sin

which he has committed is made known

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to him, he shall bring his offering

a goat, a male, without blemish.

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And later in 4 27, if any, one of the

common people sins unintentionally in

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doing any one of the things that by

the Lord's Commandments ought not to be

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done and realizes his guilt or the sin

which he has committed is made known

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to him, he shall bring his offering.

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And again, for it is a pleasing

aroma to the Lord and the

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priest shall make atonement for

him and he shall be forgiven.

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God provides directions about every

type of sin that we might commit and

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each section ends with, and he shall be

forgiven because God was looking ahead

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to the perfect sacrifice of his Son.

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Over and over we see the phrase,

it is a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

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Doesn't that make you grateful

that you have an opportunity to

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please the God of the universe?

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And I can't help but highlight

Leviticus three 16 where it says, all

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fat is the Lord's and all the mamas

in their changing bodies from every

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season of motherhood said, amen.

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And Lord, you may have

whatever you like of it.

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Take it.

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It is yours.

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Let me pray over you and your kids.

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Heavenly Father, we come before you

in awe that you gave your only son to

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pay a debt we could never satisfy.

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We thank you that the perfect

blood of Jesus Christ has

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restored us to dwell with you.

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Though we're no longer to live by this

system of sacrifices, I pray we would make

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sacrifices that bring a pleasing aroma to

you when we love and serve our families.

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And when we walk by faith, give our

children a depth of understanding that

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you're honored when we love and serve.

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Give us endurance and a desire to

read these detailed instructions

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because they guide us to your heart.

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you led your people to

write these on stone.

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Would you write the path to holiness

on our hearts as we read about

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committing unintentional sin?

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I pray you would also help

us to take care to not sin.

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So thoughtlessly,

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Lord, guide us in teaching our

children not about empty systems or

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rules or obligations that lead to

behaviorism, but help us to truly

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get to their hearts that we may each

desire to be holy before a holy God.

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We thank you that for our sake,

you made him to be sin who knew

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no sin, so that in him we might

become the righteousness of God.

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We believe you for that.

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In the name of Jesus Christ, the only one

who could and did pay our debt we pray.

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Amen.