193: Ashraf Ali - Exhortation: "My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?"

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   Welcome to good for selfie and talks. I’m Levi and I’m Chris and I’m Brian. Thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast. We select one taco week to help us get the Bible in our daily news feed. We post a new episode of the start of each week with a short intro. Hand to kind of set the stage for the talk. You’re about to listen to and now let’s talk more about this week’s talk.

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   This we stalk is an excitation titled, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Bye brother. Ashraf. Ali from Guyana. It was an exhortation given on Zoom. At the end of a study weekend hosted by the occlusion in Guyana and this was suggested by a brother from the Jamaica. Queens. Ecclesia in New York.

3. 1:14

   Thank you for that suggestion. It was a really fun talk to listen to very encouraging Brother Ali had a lot of very encouraging thoughts and some lines that I’m going to remember for a long time. He makes the point that this is Is in a way. This Psalm is the word becoming flesh because the Lord Jesus experienced this Psalm so fully he kind of expends a lot. The whole education really exploring. Why this why he chooses to quote this somehow. That’s the first half of the talk is him kind of expect discovering.

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   Why is it that he quotes this song specifically? And why would he say that God has forsaken him? So really, The sock. Thanks again to the suggestion. Obviously, I think, brother Ashraf has a really wonderful accent as well. That’s very fun to listen to. So I’m excited to share this talk. Here is Brother Ali, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken, me?

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   My beloved Brethren and sisters. It is indeed a wonderful privilege to bring the exhortation to us today. We all like to share the gospel message.

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   My brother in Canada, his interests in the Bible has been revived. And I am sharing the gospel message with him when we were growing up. We went to the same high school and at that time subject called really just knowledge was compulsory. We used to call it scripture. And it was easier subject to pass. We had to study one of the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles.

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   He did Matthew during his time. And I did look when we were growing up. He used to ask me questions about the Bible. I’m a few years older. And from a teenager, I used to. Attend christadelphians meetings. But at that time, I used to dismiss him cursorily knowledge to really explain certain things to him and just had the time to sit down and talk to him.

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   What about his scripture? I regretted that but life has turned his full circle and you know, his interest is revived. He lives in Canada. He has been asking me questions and I have been asking him questions.

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   I asked him questions, such as Did Jeff of sacrifice his daughter? Or during the Wilderness Journey. Why were they oxygen? And they occur and the cards distributed on evenly? Or. Did Moses speak to the people with his will on or off? Well? Yeah. Answered. All those questions is the questions. He got is. He’s a mechanical engineer.

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    He’s a mathematician of the family. And so he has a sharp mind. I decided to ask him a difficult question because six, you know, he was on the new windows. So I asked him this difficult question.

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    What did Jesus mean by? My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? I would like to read the answer, the answer to give. Or response that you need.

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    This is what he said. Quote. What did Jesus mean by? My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? This question is a very difficult one. Over the last two millennia. Thousands of brilliant, Bible, scholars have thought of and researched into this question and have not come up with a positive answer supported by the Bible.

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    The various answers we have come up with are merely opinions, speculations and theories. I do not believe that there is a positive answer to this question.

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    That is clearly supported by scriptural references. Taken directly from the Bible. I never found a good answer. Then when I read the Bible again a year ago. You asked this question. I understand that Martin Luther. Went into seclusion for a long time, trying to understand the reason why Jesus, uttered these words. And key movie as confused as when he began.

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    If he could not find the answer. Who am I to find the answer? Nevertheless? I have searched intensively. And extensively over the last few weeks for a positive and a logical answer. I have checked the Bible and I have searched the four corners of the Earth. And I came out convinced that the answer is not in the Bible end of quote. This is a guy.

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    Who said that last year? He read the entire Bible in four months. More than and eat hours a day. He spent reading the Bible and this year is using the Bible companion and he is now attending our Bible class.

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    My exhortation Brethren and sisters today. Is a feeble. Answer to that question. Why did Jesus cried out? My God. My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?

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    The answer doesn’t me doves. Make A very powerful exhortation. In the principles, it brings out. If we are feeling a little depressed. Especially because of the covid. Pandemic that is Raging out there. I hope that this exhortation. Can I bring a bone store steps

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    to go back? Revived to life? And its responsibilities. If a dozen people are in a room and we asked each one to explain why Jesus cried out. My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken, me?

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    We will get 12 different interpretations. In our exhortation. We do not intend to give an interpretation of my God. My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? But we would like to use it to bring out lessons that will help us as we struggle with our own mortality sometimes. in very, Difficult environments.

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    Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 14, reads. For, as much of the energy. As the children are partakers of Flesh and Blood. He also himself likewise took part of the same that through death. He might destroy him. That had the power of death. That is the devil. In 4:15.

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    We read for, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like, like, as we are yet without sin.

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    Therefore, Brethren and sisters in certain respects, the sufferings of Jesus should mirror our own. And his sufferings that we experience. You should mirror that of our Lord Jesus.

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    To put this another way. There are many similarities between our sufferings and that of Jesus. Before we plunge into Psalm 22. where, My God. My God, why hast Thou forsaken me has taken from we would like to describe two experiences that we share with Jesus, but with a much lesser intensity. We will then apply these experiences to Psalm 22. Bear with me.

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    The Preamble is long, but it is directly related to Psalm 22. We are all familiar with the saying. The spirit is willing. But the flesh is weak.

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    I will use myself as an example to explain this principle. I suffer from time to time with a stomach problem. Not a hard problem. Thank God, it is seasonal and most times. It depends on the kind of food that I eat. It can last for a couple of days during which time it is difficult for me to get out of bed because of the acute pain. All of us.

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    As I do love life, rather than death, no matter to what extent we suffer, hardship and pain. There are very elderly, people who cry out for death. But this is not a subject you want to go into at this time? Before we continue.

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    A little explanation is needed about the flesh. The Flash represents the whole person. A figure of speech called. Synecdoche the whole person has two ways of thinking. Our own natural rebellious way against the laws of God or God’s way of life for us.

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    These two contradictory ways of thinking. Are referred to as the Flesh and the spirit. Not that there are two separate bodies, the spirit body and the natural body. The two are one.

30. 14:54

    There is no separation of any entity at death. The flesh is a metaphor for the mind. So as I was saying, I love life, despite its setbacks. As. Max Orman says in his desiderata. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations. In the noisy, confusion of life.

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    Keep peace with your soul. With all its sham drudgery and Broken Dreams. It is a beautiful world. Be cheerful strive to be happy. Brother and sisters. If thought never came to me in my wildest dreams that I would cry out for death during the Autumn of my days. I’m 75 years old going on. December 26.

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    So I never expected to have the experience that I am describing. Now. There was this absolutely terrible pain that I had it came in waves.

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    As I mentioned before, it was not the first time I had had this kind of pain but this time it was brutally intense. I cried aloud for God to help me. If someone had heard me there, they would have called 911 without consulting me. I was alone in my room. My brother-in-law. The only person at home was four floors below. When the Pian reached?

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    The peanut butter. Of its highest intensity. I cried out. God, let me die. I felt that God had forsaken me. It was not me screaming. Those words. I loved life too much. It was the flesh. When I could no longer bear, the pain, the flesh, cried out for death.

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    Never in my wildest imagination. Did I ever believe words like those would come from me? I always wanted to leave so much. The spirit is willing. But the flesh is weak. Maybe some of you listening. I’ve had this experience already and we are on the same page or maybe not. But those of you who never had this kind of experience, I pray that you would be spared.

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    Since then. I have not had a repeat of this excruciating Lee painful experience. I tried changing my diet. I’d like to call milk. But since I stopped using whole milk, the attacks have been mild. This reminds me of brother Alan Fowler famous Medical Doctor Who decades ago at a Bible School. In Guyana said, we should avoid salt and cold milk because call milk. Is for Cocoa Puffs?

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    Not people. However, if I’m invited to your house and you give me coffee. I will ask for call milk and sugar. I am not a teetotaler teetotaler. For milk salt and sugar. Paul said, let your moderation be known to all.

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    Incidentally, brothers and sisters, scripture says that God will not allow us to experience more Temptations than we can be here. He did not say that he will not allow us to have more pain than we can bear. Paul talks about experiences in his life. And the life of his Brethren when they had more pain that he can be there, for example. Ian 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 8, we read for a, we would not Brethren have you.

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    Ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above strength? In so much that we despaired even of life.

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    So it was temptations that God will not give us more than we can, they’re not pain. Ida second principle that we would like to refer to briefly, is that God promised over and over in the Bible that he will not forsake his obedient servants. It would go against this promise. If we say that, he forsook the greatest of his servants, the Lord Jesus Christ, his son.

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    In the time of his greatest need, incidentally. The resurrected Christ said that he will not leave nor forsake his friends, but will be with them to the end of the world. So, let us keep these two principles or experiences in the back of our mind, as we explore some 22, they are the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak and both God.

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    And Jesus said, they would never leave or forsake us. If you are faithful, of course. Now for some 22. We will do our best. And not to give an interpretation of Psalm 22. From now on, we will refer to some 22 and the gospels where the sum is quoted and no, and no other Bible passage. If we bring another Bible passages, we will be getting into an interpretation which we want to avoid. so, Psalm 22 every time Jesus saw cross.

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    Psalm 22 must have come into his mind without he willing that it should be. So he must have recited that some hundreds of times. The some describes of a man who can be you or me when we feel that God has, forsaken us. And when we cry out for help. In the extremity of suffering.

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    Look at some 22. We have read. Versed 100 times. But perhaps the meaning has eluded or escaped us. Psalm 22 verse 1. My God. My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Why are those so far from helping me? And the words of my roaring verse 2, O, my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou here is not and in the night season, and I’m not silent.

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    So the words, my God. My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? was not a one-time occasion, but Jesus said that throughout His probation. Oh my God. My God. When? There was this battle between the spirit and the flesh. It was a refrain in his life as even as he went through. That gargantuan struggle.

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    Brothers and sisters. When Jesus was impaled on the cross, he experienced the most intense fulfillment of Psalm 22. This son of the passages of scripture came to his mind from time to time because he had memorized them. At first. They were only an intellectual understanding of scripture. Over the course of time, they became part of his experience. As he struggled in the fiercest of all battles. Flesh against Spirit, the words of some of the some were secondary the feelings that the sun evoked, what the substance, the words were being made, flesh, a process that started at his conception and ended at his death. When the Romans drove Nails into his flesh. And his cross was raised up, right? Every labored breath, he took.

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    Was. Intensely brutal brutally. Agonizingly. And excruciating Lee painful the time came. Venice flesh. Could no longer take it. God never ever turned his back on his son. Psalm 22. We not out of Psalm 22, Psalm 22 verse 24. For he has not despised nor of heard the Affliction of The Afflicted, neither hath. He hid his face from him.

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    But when he Cried unto him, he heard. On that cross. The heart of God and the Heart of his son. Jesus would beating as one heart. Not hiding his face from Jesus and being there for Jesus remind us of the poem by Mary Stevenson. It goes like this.

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    It’s entitled Footprints in the Sand. One night. I had a dream I dreamed. I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene. I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One belonging to me and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before me, I look back at the footprints in the Sun and I noticed that many times along the path of my life.

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    There was only one set of footprints. I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life. This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it. Lord. You said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way but I have noticed that during the most Troublesome times in my life. There is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand.

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    Why when I need you most, you would leave me. The Lord replied my precious child. I love you and would never leave you during your times of trial. And suffering, when you see only one set of footprints.

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    It was then that I carried you. Yes, red and sisters. The father was there. But his hands were tied. Because if Jesus had refused to complete obediently, the sentiments of the whole of Psalm 22 Redemption for faithful humans of all time would have been lost. Jesus was in the process of completing the most Herculean and difficult task that has ever been frost on a mortal.

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    Yeah, we had to wait for his son to learn that he could not rely on his flesh to carry him through this ordeal. There is no evidence in Psalm 22. And in the gospel. That the Holy Spirit left, Jesus. The father was looking on and waiting for the right time to intervene in the suffering of his son. The feeling of Jesus was yes, my father. I know you promised not to forsake me, but I cannot bear this ordeal anymore.

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    Where is the help that I need? Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The flesh. Cried out, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken? Me? These.

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    Well, not the words of Jesus. The flesh was crying out, human endurance that come to an end. Jesus felt that God had forsaken him. But there is no evidence in Psalm 22 that God had forsaken his son as evidenced above.

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    And Brethren and sisters. When the flesh gave up. That was when God stepped in to give the right medication at the right time using the kind of language that we are familiar with. The prepping was complete. The greatest physician of all time. Father. God was about to take over.

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    God was waiting for the Cry of the flesh to express. It’s in adequacy for the work of redemption. Let me say that again. God was waiting for the Cry of the flesh to express. Its in adequacy for the work of redemption. Jesus alone could not buy himself, brought Redemption to faithful humans. God’s? Right arm brought salvation.

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    VI the ego. In human flesh. Even in Jesus. Had to be humbled. How did God help Jesus to show that he had not forsaken him?

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    We usually think that Jesus recited the part of Psalm 22. It says, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken? Me and immediately after this anguished Outburst. He said it is finished. And then he died. That is so far from the truth. Jesus was not really reciting, the Sun for people to hear. Jesus was living this.

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    Some as no one had ever lived it before. The sun was becoming flesh. Look at this song. In its entirety, it consists of 31 verses. We suggested that Jesus must have recited this some countless times in his life. David who wrote the sun did experience, the ramifications of this sum to a certain measure.

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    Saying that it is also inspired meant that God had an input and did put in place experiences that had their culminating fulfillment with his son on the cross.

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    Need the following reasoning is correct. Then what we will discover now we’ll blow our mind. To reinforce what we said, the sum was going through the mind of Jesus. He was living it. The word was in the process of becoming flesh. A process that started at conception.

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    The gospels give us snapshots of time. Reading the crucifixion of Jesus in the gospels gives us the feeling. That as soon as Jesus said, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken, me?

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    He said it is finished and died. Jesus is mind when through the entire Sam. and when he came to verse 31, He changed the words. And this happens when a verse or a passage is taken out of the Old Testament into the Old Testament, not as a mere quotation. but, It adds another dimension.

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    To divorce is a different application from the Old Testament. so, The words were changed. The KJV says he has done this. That is verse 31 of Psalm 22. He has done this referring to the father. Another translation says he has performed it in Hebrew. The word used is Asar, which means accomplished. A related word is Hosea, which means yeah saves.

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    Why am I laboring on this Brethren and sisters? Is because he has done. This is changed to. It is finished. Psalm 22. Says. He has done it, the father.

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    Jesus said, It is finished. Jesus, did not say. I have completed what you required of me, or I did it. He said it is finished that fizz of the work in. Some 22 was finished. It is finished.

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    The father. With the help of his son. Had done it. With his last breath. Jesus was giving all credit to God for accomplishing, his will in the life of his son. With his last breath. Jesus was giving his father credit for the work of atonement. The he in he has done it refers to the father. As we said, Jesus did not see.

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    I have done it. In other words, Jesus was saying the word that you gave me to do has been accomplished. Because you have done it through me.

70. 39:06

    And then God answered his prayer. By relieving his suffering in death. Mercifully. Jesus bowed his head and gave credit to his father. It is done. And death came. The Titanic struggle that Jesus and Jordan, his life and culminated on the cross was more brutally intense than any soldier who has ever died in battle. Let us never underestimate The Gargantuans trouble that our Master enjoyed so that we can be reconciled to his father. What we go through in our experiences. Pales into insignificance as contrasted to what he went through.

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    In a few minutes. We will be breaking. Bread. Really partaking in the breaking of bread. Which will remind us of Jesus. Our lord and representative. Who imputes his righteousness to us. So that we who are sinners?

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    Can be redeemed. Brother and sisters. Not a bone. Of his body was broken. What was broken was the power of sin in his flesh?

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    In a few minutes. As we break the bread, this act will remind us of the breaking of the power of sin in his body.

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    Our all natural way of life to was, put to death at baptism and Christ became our Master, not sin. And yes, promised us. That he will never leave us or forsake us. Two, final considerations.

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    Those crucified were left on the cross for days. But Jesus died after 6 hours. Jesus used to be in the peak of Health. Was it the scourging together with the physical emotional and psychological suffering that killed him? Or was it the Spear of the century and that killed him an unheard-of act by a centurion in the honors? Of crucifixion in all the Anna’s of crucifixion was did God. Orchestrate that.

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    We will not go into that area because we do not want to go out of Psalm 22 and secondly. Half of Psalm 22 has to do. With his suffering and the other half has to do with his resurrection and immortalization.

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    Psalm 22 is a work in progress. So this is a sum that is more Sublime than it appears. The profundity of this sum is ultra incredibly breathtaking. The entire sun will have its complete fulfillment when Jesus returns. And he celebrates his victory over death. Because of the ineffable handiwork of his father. Jesus said during his last meal with his disciples that he will not drink of a particular cop until he returns.

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    The cop that we his friends partake of regularly. Reminds us of the cop that he would like to share with the faithful when he returns. He could not share this celebratory or celebrity cop with them because after the meal, he must head to the Garden of Gethsemane. And then to the cross. Did the ultimate sacrifice by the greatest man who ever lived? Let us this day.

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    Rededicate Our Lives to the service of all of our father who can accomplish in our lives victory over death. As he did in the life of his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we too are the coming of Christ can see. He the father has done it. Not we ourselves. And when the hour was come, Jesus sat down and the apostles with him, and he took bread. We now hand over the meeting to our but brother president. Thank you for listening to the good christadelphians talks podcast.

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