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Quick show of hands, how many of
you are now or have ever been an

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intern? 
What an eager and underpaid 

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congregation we have here. 
I once, many years ago, applied 

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for an internship with the 
Department of State. 

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I was rejected for this 
internship, but that rejection 

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LED many years later, 20 years 
later, to some of the content of

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this sermon right now. 
So let me tell you a story. 

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So I'm sitting in my dorm room 
in Rochester, NY and figuring 

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out what I'm going to do for the
summer. 

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I come across this internship 
with State Department and it 

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just seems like the coolest 
thing in the world, right? 

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I have no idea what one would 
actually do in such an 

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internship or how I would get 
there or what it pays probably 

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for the better. 
And but I'm, I'm I'm full of 

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passion, right? 
I'm I'm passionate about our 

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Lord. 
I've been growing by leaps and 

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bounds my faith recently and I'm
just I want to see the Kingdom 

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of God come through everything 
in my life and I'm just super 

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fascinated by politics model UN 
nerd, all that stuff. 

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So start filling out the 
application name, college major,

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boom, here I come, Foggy Bottom,
right? 

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And then I get to the question 
that says, what are your goals 

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with this internship? 
What are you aiming for? 

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And I could sort of see at that 
moment 2 paths on the one side. 

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I know what they're asking for. 
Like, I'm naive, but I'm not 

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stupid. 
Like, I know what they want to 

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hear about democracy and human 
rights and American interests 

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abroad and all that stuff. 
And I'm like, you know what, 

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forget it. 
I'm just going to tell the 

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truth. 
I'm applying for this internship

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with the Department of State so 
that I can see the Kingdom of 

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God come through US foreign 
policy and you know, send flush,

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do something else this summer, 
whatever. 

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Couple months later, I get a 
call in my dorm room, my dorm 

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room phone and this woman says 
hi. 

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I'm so and so calling from the 
Department of State. 

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I was reading over your 
application. 

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I was interested and so I wrote 
down your info so I could take 

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it home and call you from my 
home phone, which intern 

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coordinators out there not 
supposed to do this kind of 

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thing, personal identifiable 
information, all that thing, she

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said. 
I'm actually, I'm a believer 

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also. 
I've been pursuing my calling 

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here at the Department of State.
And first of all, I just want to

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encourage you in your own faith,
your interest in politics, but I

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also want to encourage you to 
think a little bit more deeply 

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about how your Christian calling
and mission fits with your 

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career mission. 
And I thought, huh, actually, 

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I've never thought about that. 
I've just got all these kind of 

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passions and feelings drives, 
and they're all kind of the same

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thing. 
And I don't know what they are. 

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Maybe you've thought deeply 
about those things you've 

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wrestled with, what your mission
is in your life, how that fits 

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with the things that you're 
doing right now. 

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I'm sure some of you have 
wrestled with those questions as

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you wrestle with them. 
I think one of the difficulties 

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is that the questions become 
more difficult as you get more 

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deeply into them. 
For example, some of us feel 

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like our mission is to 
materially make better the 

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social conditions around us in 
concrete ways to improve 

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fairness and justice and wealth 
so that these things become more

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real around us. 
You know, like measurable 

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outcomes. 
That's the phrase, right? 

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Love that phrase. 
Measurable outcomes. 

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And some of us feel like our 
mission is to find the truth, to

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know for certain that we are on 
the right side and we have the 

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truth. 
So I find the right church. 

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I find the right candidates, I 
find the right philosophy. 

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And once I've got those things, 
I know I've got it right. 

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Then I have a mission to tell 
other people and make sure that 

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they are on the right side of 
the truth. 

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And many of us feel this tension
all the time because these two 

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groups of people both feel like 
they are on a powerful mission 

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and that the other people are 
probably never going to get it. 

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They're just never going to 
understand the mission. 

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We feel this in so many ways. 
Those groups of people sometimes

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then will join different book 
clubs, listen to different 

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podcasts and sources of news. 
Many times they'll attend 

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different churches. 
Never mind all of the political 

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stuff associated with that. 
There's this exterior mission, 

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this interior mission, and you 
got to choose one of them. 

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Which one is your mission? 
Well, I'm here as the preacher 

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today to tell you that the 
biblical teaching is not so. 

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Not only is there no division 
between these two things, but 

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that it is destructive to act in
such a way. 

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It divides us, It pulls us apart
in some unnecessary ways. 

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So what is that mission? 
There is a mission that the Lord

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has for us that ties together 
the exterior and the interior of

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our ourselves. 
And we can experience that 

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through the mission to enter 
into the presence of God here on

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earth. 
One word for that mission is 

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worship, the mission of worship.
And I mean that not just in the 

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particular sense of singing 
songs and going to worship 

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services, but in the broader 
sense to live your life in such 

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a way as to enter into the 
presence of God here on earth. 

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Let's tease that out for a few 
minutes. 

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In the Old Testament, one of the
great stories of the Old 

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Testament is the Exodus, which 
is found in the book of Exodus. 

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And in this story, the people of
Israel are in bondage. 

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They are in slavery in Egypt. 
And so Moses goes to Pharaoh, 

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and he says to Pharaoh, let my 
people go. 

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And Pharaoh says, go where? 
To do what? 

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And Moses says to worship. 
God has called us to hold a 

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sacred feast of worship, to meet
with him in his presence here on

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earth. 
That is Our Calling. 

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And the story continues. 
They pass through the Red Sea. 

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They're liberated from their 
bondage and they go to this 

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mountain, this meeting place of 
God with humans called Mount 

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Sinai. 
And the whole rest of the Old 

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Testament sort of looks back on 
this moment of like, this is 

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what we should be doing if we 
really were who we're supposed 

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to be. 
This is what it would be like in

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this moment right here. 
And they feel that way because 

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that's exactly what God says to 
the people at that moment. 

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And Mount Sinai, he says, this 
is your mission right here. 

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Exodus 19/6. 
He says you will be to me a 

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Kingdom of priests and a holy 
nation. 

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It is your mission to enter into
the presence of God here on 

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earth through earthly realities,
just like this mountain right 

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here, and then to minister that 
presence to the families of the 

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earth. 
That is the mission that God has

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for us. 
It's the same mission that Jesus

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came to fulfill and instantiate 
and cast to the four corners of 

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the earth. 
Jesus mission. 

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As we we heard just a few 
moments ago, Jesus mission 

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started with his baptism. 
His ministry begins at that 

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point and you can tell what 
Jesus mission is based on what 

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that baptism is. 
What is baptism? 

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Baptism is a washing. 
That's a consecration to enter 

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into the presence of God in 
worship. 

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So in the story of the 
Israelites, they come out to 

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enter into the presence of God. 
They come out of Egypt, and what

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do they do at the base of the 
mountain as they're preparing 

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themselves in Exodus 19, they 
wash themselves to consecrate 

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themselves, to enter into the 
presence of God. 

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The Old Testament pattern is for
worshippers to wash themselves, 

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to consecrate themselves, to 
enter into the presence of God 

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here on earth. 
That washing is a great theme in

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the Scriptures. 
There's a beautiful phrase in 

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Psalm 26 that talks about this. 
Psalm 26 says I wash my hands in

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innocence and go around your 
altar. 

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You see the consecration, 
entering into God's presence and

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worship, proclaiming 
Thanksgiving aloud and telling 

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all your wonder, wondrous deeds.
You're both sides there, right? 

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Entering into the presence of 
God and then ministering that 

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presence to others. 
Oh Lord, I love the habitation 

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of your house and the place 
where your glory dwells. 

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The ministry of Jesus was 
consecrated through his baptism 

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to go into the world, to 
consecrate followers, to go into

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the whole world so that they 
might walk into the presence of 

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God and be his priest and a holy
nation. 

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One of the most beautiful ways 
of putting this is in a book 

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from the 1960s. 
It's called For the Life of the 

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World by Alexander Schmemann and
the author. 

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He was giving a series of talks 
at a a student missions 

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conference. 
And so the question before then 

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was, what's what's the goal of 
mission? 

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Like? 
What are we trying to do in 

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mission? 
And so Schmemman says, well, the

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goal is what Jesus said his goal
is, which is the life of the 

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world to bring. 
It's for the life of the world. 

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So the question is, what is the 
life of the world? 

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So he says biblically, the life 
of the world is to use the 

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material creation, the material 
world around us to use it, 

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eating, working, procreation, 
raising children, all the good 

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things of this world to use 
those things and to offer them 

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back to God in worship so that 
those earthly realities might 

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become a communion with God. 
Here's how he puts up the 

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natural dependence of man upon 
the world was intended to be 

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transformed constantly into 
communion with God, in whom is 

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all life. 
Man was to be the priest of a 

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Eucharist, offering the world to
God. 

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And in this offering he was to 
receive the gift of life. 

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Now, as I look out at you, I 
know that there are so many 

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missions in your lives, so many 
missions in individual lives 

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that I see right here. 
Some of you have a mission in 

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the State Department's working 
out justice or fairness or 

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various foreign policy 
interests. 

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Some of you have a mission to 
provide for your families. 

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Some of you have a mission to be
an integral part of the network 

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of relationships in your 
neighborhood. 

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All of these are small M 
missions that receive, that must

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receive their character and 
their power and their direction 

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from a a big M mission. 
And the big M mission that 

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guides all of those things that 
informs them is to enter into 

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the presence of God here on 
earth to be a Kingdom of priests

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and a holy nation. 
Now I know just as well as I 

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think most of you do, how easy 
it is for those small end 

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missions to completely overwhelm
our lives. 

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They take all of our time and 
our attention and our problem 

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solve, problem solving 
abilities, our intellect. 

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They certainly take all of our 
patience, and there are so many 

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good things to be done through 
those things, informed hopefully

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by God's mission. 
But that is the problem, isn't 

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it? 
It's so easy for those things to

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become detached from the big M 
mission of our lives to uncover 

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God's presence and His glory 
through this world. 

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If that's you today and you're 
feeling some of that, that, that

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that pull away in the small M 
missions of your life, today is 

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the day to reconsecrate yourself
to the big M mission of God. 

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Today is the day for that 
because God has put you here in 

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Washington, DC, in this place in
the world, so that this place 

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might be for you a Mount Sinai, 
a meeting place of God with 

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humans to enter into His 
presence through your job and 

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your relationships and your 
neighborhood and all of the 

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missions in your life. 
That in all of these things you 

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might uncover His glory. 
You might uncover it corporately

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through living out your life in 
this congregation as a family of

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God. 
That you might uncover His glory

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intellectually by digesting the 
deep truths of the Bible for 

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your particular situation and 
your calling. 

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That you might uncover the glory
of God spiritually as you 

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develop an active and vibrant 
prayer life to sustain the 

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missions that God has put you 
on. 

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That you might uncover the glory
of God practically by serving 

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those around you, those in need,
mentally and physically and 

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monetarily in your life. 
All some of those things seem 

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more religious than others, but 
all of them are various parts of

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the Big M mission of God, which 
God has called us on. 

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It informs all of these other 
things in our lives. 

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How do we consecrate ourselves 
for that? 

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We need to do that at discrete 
moments in our life, but we also

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need to do that every day. 
Here's a prayer to pray in the 

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morning. 
Before you've looked at your 

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phone, before you've looked at 
the news, certainly before 

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you've checked your work e-mail.
You pray a prayer that says, 

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Lord, this day is a day from you
that ioffer back to you in 

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worship. 
And then you walk through the 

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various things of your day. 9 
AMI have a meeting with this 

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person. 11:00 Staff meeting. 
12:00 Lunch with so and so, 

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dinner with my family, call with
my father at 8:00 in the 

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evening. 
And you walk through these 

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things and you consecrate each 
one to the Lord. 

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Lord, how can I uncover and know
your presence through these 

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earthly realities and be a 
priest for you in these 

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situations? 
Well, if you will pray that 

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prayer, then what you're doing 
is consecrating your life to be 

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a temple of the Lord, which is 
amazing. 

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It's incredible. 
It's a beautiful vision. 

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And you will also though, be 
consecrating your life to be a 

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zone of active conflict. 
The patterns of Jesus life and 

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ministry and the patterns of the
ancient Israelites show us that 

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those who would consecrate 
themselves for God's purposes to

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uncover his glory on the earth 
will face spiritual opposition. 

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And those spiritual forces will 
be opposed to you, and you will 

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be opposed to them. 
And their opposition to you is 

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called temptation, and your 
opposition to them is called 

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exorcism or casting out. 
We see this in the ministry of 

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Jesus, and this also is a part 
of our mission. 

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Jesus consecrates himself and 
his baptism for this ministry of

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consecration, and then he goes 
out and immediately the first 

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thing that happens is that he is
attacked by the devil in 

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temptation and he goes out and 
he attacks the strongholds of 

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the devil in a ministry of 
exorcism and casting out and 

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releasing people from spiritual 
bondage. 

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Now this can look many different
ways. 

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Actually, sometimes we think of 
the like placing your hand on a 

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forehead and casting out a 
demon. 

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And that happens in the 
Scriptures, and it happens today

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also. 
For example, in the Gospel of 

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John, that kind of confrontation
looks more like a confrontation 

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between the truth and lies. 
Or in some other parts of the 

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New Testament, in the letters of
Paul, the spiritual forces of 

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evil are part of a confrontation
that's like behind all of our 

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moral life as we live that out 
in the world many different ways

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in which there are spiritual 
forces of evil arraigned against

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us internally in temptation and 
externally in casting out. 

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I point this out because it's 
easy for us to see these 

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discreet Bible stories as 
different things. 

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We get to 1 here and one there 
when in fact they are connected.

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There is a pattern there. 
The story of Jesus baptism and 

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temptation and the casting out 
are one story. 

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The same thing. 
The same pattern is in the 

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Israelites. 
They, they come out of Egypt, 

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they're released from bondage, 
they enter into the presence of 

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God. 
They have this great calling 

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upon their lives be a Kingdom of
priests and a holy nation. 

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And immediately they encounter 
spiritual opposition in 

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temptation. 
This is in the book of Numbers 

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in the Bible. 
And they go out and take that 

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spiritual opposition in a, in a 
ministry of casting out. 

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And this is what the Israelites 
are doing in their mission in 

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the promised land, casting out 
spiritual forces of evil. 

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If you read closely through 
Numbers, Deuteronomy, and 

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Joshua, that's how things are 
pictured. 

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Now, as I talked about this, 
it's easy for us to picture 

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spiritual opposition as if it's 
like a football game where 

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you've got one side lined up 
here and the other side on the 

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other part of the line of 
scrimmage, and they're facing 

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each other. 
You've got a red team and a 

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white team. 
Boom, go. 

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Someone's going to score more 
points than the other one. 

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Someone's going to stop the 
other team from scoring. 

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This analogy has limited value. 
And the issue is that what we 

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learn from the consecration of 
Jesus is that spiritual conflict

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is ultimately a conflict of 
consecration. 

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That which is submitted to the 
will of God is consecrated to 

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his purposes and uncovering his 
glory, and that which is not 

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submitted to the will of God is 
potentially arrayed against that

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mission. 
Some people hear that and they 

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think, what does that mean? 
Does that mean people who don't 

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believe the same things as I 
were like opponents in the 

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spiritual conflict? 
Well, actually the apostle Paul 

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is clear about this. 
In Ephesians 6, he says that we 

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wrestle not against flesh and 
blood, but against the rulers 

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and the authorities and the 
powers of this present darkness.

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And those spiritual powers do 
still make attack today through 

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temptation. 
Temptation and in the world 

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around us. 
And it is present all around us,

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opposing the mission of 
consecration. 

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It's there in self 
righteousness, self 

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justification, schism. 
It's there in impatience with 

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the long purposes of God, with 
nonchalance toward what is holy 

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in all of these things. 
If those things are not 

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addressed and confronted and 
dealt with and exposed and 

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forsaken and prayed against, we 
will experience vanity and our 

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00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:25,160
desire to commune with God 
through His creation or. 

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All of this that we're doing 
will end up becoming like some 

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kind of great big religious show
instead of what it ought to be, 

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which is experiencing the power 
of God here on this earth. 

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How do we go about that mission?
How is that a part of our 

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mission also in the day today, 
then? 

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Well, I think we can enter into 
it fairly simply. 

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Again, at the beginning of each 
day, here's a simple prayer that

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you can pray. 
It goes like this. 

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Lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil. 

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Lord, lead me and those in my 
small group, those who I walk 

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00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,440
out my faith with, and those in 
my church. 

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Lead us not into temptation. 
Lead us not beyond what we can 

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00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:11,320
handle. 
Lord, steer it clear from us so 

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that we might not be distracted 
from the big M mission, the 

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purposes of God in our life, so 
the small M missions may not 

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pull us away in a million 
different directions and pull us

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away from the presence of God. 
Just as you, O Lord, defeated 

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00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,640
and triumphed over the forces of
evil on the cross, in the same 

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00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:34,040
way would you defeat and triumph
over these same forces here in 

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00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:42,480
the world today. 
My friends, for all of you, all 

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00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,280
of you have so many different 
missions in your life, so many 

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00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:50,600
important things to enter into, 
so many things to which you feel

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00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:53,040
called. 
Some of them you really feel 

341
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:55,040
certain you're on the right side
of history. 

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00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,000
Some of them you're not sure at 
all. 

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The important thing is for all 
of us to root those missions in 

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00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:08,120
the big M mission and purpose of
God, which is to be a Kingdom of

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00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:12,760
priests and a holy nation. 
To consecrate all of these 

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00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:17,480
things to the Lord so that we 
might uncover his glory through 

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00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:22,720
this earth, through our jobs and
our families and our 

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00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:28,280
neighborhoods, through our 
rejections from internships or 

349
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:32,600
jobs or relationships. 
And offer these things back to 

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00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,840
the Lord in the beauty of 
worship so that they might be a 

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00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:42,080
kind of communion with God. 
I'm going to ask the parents 

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00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,320
right now. 
You may go to get your children 

353
00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,840
while I say a prayer here as we 
ask for the Lord's presence in 

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this baptism. 
Lord Jesus, we pray right now 

355
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,240
for all of all of us here, for 
all of my brothers and sisters 

356
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,840
in this place. 
I pray, Lord, that you will 

357
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:05,280
teach us the ways of mission, 
teach us to follow after Jesus, 

358
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:10,200
to enter into the presence of 
God here on this earth, who pray

359
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:13,880
that this baptism right now 
might be the beginning of a new 

360
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:18,440
ministry for the one who is 
baptized and for all of us as we

361
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,760
reconsecrate ourselves for the 
purposes of God, the name of the

362
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:24,960
Father and the Son, the Holy 
Spirit, Amen.