OUR MISSION AND VISION (2)

Our Mission and Vision (Sermon 2)

Reconciling People to Each Other

Ephesians 2:11 ff.
Sunday Morning
September 6, 2009
Church in the Boro
Rob Wilkerson
Have Harrison share his testimony from the incident at school two weeks ago.

Introduction
One of the most difficult aspects of Christianity is the horizontal
relationships. The vertical relationship we have with God seems to go fairly
well for those who are truly born again. God has saved them, they know it,
they love it, and they live in that salvation, praising God for it.
But the horizontal relationships dont seem to fair as well. Those who are
truly born again will attest to how difficult it is to leave in total peace with
other Christians. Fights, quarrels, bickering, gossiping, slandering, etc. all
abound in too many churches and among too many Christian relationships.
Id like to submit to you this morning, however, that your testimony about
your relationship with God is inseparable from the lifestyle you reflect in
your relationships with other people. You cant have a solid vertical
relationship without a solid horizontal one. And conversely, you cant have
horizontal relationships that function normally in a biblical way, unless your
vertical relationship with God is functioning in a normal way. They go hand in
hand. Theyre two sides of the same coin.
Why does it have to be this way? For the simple fact that we show our love
for God by how we love one another. People wont know we love God if we
dont love one another. By the same token, they will know we are
followers of Jesus by how we treat His family members. As one pastor put
it, you cant love Jesus and dis His Bride. Or put another way, You cant
say you follow Jesus when you mistreat His brothers and sisters.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that God has come into the world
in the person of Jesus Christ to live the perfect life I never could, and die the
death I never would, and raise Himself from the dead in order to one thing:
to get rid of everything in my life that hindered me from being Gods best
friend, thereby making me a friend of God.

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My goal here this morning is simply to make the single most significant
application of the gospel in all of Scripture: if God has reconciled you to
Himself then youre also reconciled with everyone else whos
reconciled to Him. My ability to act this out and live this way, as far as it
depends on me, is the real measure of whether or not my profession of faith
is genuine.
Turn in your Bibles to one of the most significant texts on personal
relationships and reconciliation. Its Ephesians 2:11-3:21. Youll remember
me saying several times that the letter to the Ephesians wasnt actually
intended just for the Ephesians. It would seem that just as Romans is Pauls
theology of the gospel, Ephesians is his theology of the church. So this
letter, meant to be read by all the churches, contains the foundational beliefs
and core doctrine of the universal church and the local church.
Ephesians 1:4-2:10 is all about Reconciling Sinners to God, the first part of
our mission statement here at Church in the Boro. Ephesians 2:11-3:21 is
about the second part of that mission statement, which is Reconciling
People to Each Other. You see, we believe here at Church in the Boro that
being reconciled to God means we are automatically reconciled to everyone
else around us who has been reconciled to God. In other words, if youre a
follower of Jesus, then you and I are followers together. And if nothing
separates you from the love of God, then nothing can separate you from my
loveand nothing should separate me from your love.
This doctrine of reconciliation is actually the doctrine of racial reconciliation
also, since the fundamental issue facing the church at this time in history
was Jews and Gentiles getting along with each other and worshiping
together. This was a racial thing in every sense of the word. The Jews looked
at Gentiles like whites looked at blacks not too many years ago, and for very
many years prior to that.
He speaks to this in 2:11 and following, when he writes that the Gentiles
were uncircumcised. Circumcision, while something doctors do today to
infants for health purposes, held deep religious significance for a Jew. If
youve ever read the story about Abraham, in Genesis 17 God tells him that
because He chose Abraham and was going to make a whole nation of people
who would love Him, God wanted to seal His promise with Abraham by
mandating that he circumcise himself and all his descendants after him on
their eighth day. A scary prospect for a man who was about a hundred years
old at that time, if not a little older.
So to not be circumcised is to not be a part of the promise God made to
Abraham. And thats what Paul meant in verse 12 when he writes that they
were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God

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in the world. Thats an incredibly heavy statement, isnt it?! I mean the
Gentiles were on the outs with God and with Gods people. To the Jews,
Gentiles were dogs, pigs, and any other racial slur you can think of that has
been used in the past. (To be sure, this wasnt Gods intention...ever! God
wanted them to be a light to the Gentiles to bring them into the covenant.
But instead of doing this, they burned their only bridge to accomplish Gods
purpose for them when they murdered Jesus.)
And it is at this point that Paul introduces the gospel, the good news. It was
good news to the Gentile who was on the outs with God and His promises
to Israel. Paul writes in verse 13 that now in Christ Jesus you who once were
far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Hallelujah! Thats
you and me folks! Unless I missed any Jews who are here visiting with us
this morning, every single one of us would have continued to be without
hope and without God in this world had it not been for Jesus Christ bringing
us close to God by His blood. I love Pauls language there: you who once
were far off. Once upon a time I was far off from God, but not anymore,
hallelujah.
That brings us to verses 14-16 which seem to be the theological pivot of
chapter 2. We know that because Paul begins verse 14 with a causal
conjunction, seen in our English word for. In essence, Paul is using this
word to explain how it is, and why it is that God has brought the Gentiles
near to Himself and His promises to Israel through the blood of Jesus Christ.
1. The Who: Jesus Christ Himself is our peace.
2. The What: as the very Peace of God itself, Jesus Christ
accomplished two things
a. He united believing Jews and Gentiles into one group.
b. In dying for them (us) He broke down the dividing wall of hostility by
abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances.
3. The Why: as the person of Peace, Jesus Christ had a two-fold
goal in doing what He did.
a. He wanted to create in Himself one new group of people to replace
the two groups in order to make peace.
b. He wanted to reconcile Jews and Gentiles to God in one group
through the cross, effectively putting to death all the hostility that
raged between them.

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The endgame, so to speak, is found in verses 17-22 of chapter 2. Jesus came

and preached this peace to Jews and Gentiles (v. 17), so that they both
would have access in one Spirit to the Father (v. 18). What Jesus effectively
did in this bold act was to instantaneously bring Gentiles into the covenant,
making them equal heirs with believing Jews. In verse 19 he calls them
fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. So
red, and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.

Cultural Parallels in Reconciliation

And this brings up a key parallel I want to make from Ephesians 2 to our day.
The issue in Pauls day was the two races: Jews and Gentiles. But wed be
idiots if we missed the parallels that can be made to our culture today, a
culture where we cant necessarily identify with Jew and Gentile disputes in a
local church. Heres what it looks like today: Racism and Discrimination.
1. Social Favoritism, Racism and Discrimination. This happens when
people inherently decide not to associate with a person or group of
people who are another race or class of society. Ever chosen not to go
eat at that restaurant because of the type of people who run it? Ever
driven by a trailer park home and thought, Glad Im not livin there!
Ever had a red flag go up in your mind when you compare a regular
home to a mobile home?
2. Economic Favoritism, Racism and Discrimination. This happens
when we spend our money or give our money based on the economic
strata of a particular race or group of people. It happens when we
decide to go the Harveys on the white side of town instead of the one
on the black part of town. It happens when White Flight occurs in a
neighborhood because the influx of blacks into a neighborhood drives
down the value of a home. When white people do that, they show that
they prize the value of their home more than they do the value of the
people moving into their neighborhoods. And when white people rent
their houses to blacks or poorer people but dont take care as good of
care of it as they would if more respectable or wealthier, white
people lived there, thats racism and discrimination too. When white
people do that, they are not living the Golden Rule of doing for those
people what they would those people to do for them if the shoe were
on the other foot. Why wouldnt I take care of the home youre renting
from me as well as I take care of my own?
3. Institutional Favoritism, Racism and Discrimination. This
happens when the very foundation and core and root system of a
community, business, or organization is driven by a particular race or
status of people for a particular race or status of people. When
churches, communities, and local governments are driven by white

OUR MISSION AND VISION (2)

people, then their policies and decisions and efforts will be driven for
white people, no matter what they say to the opposite. Affirmative
Action is a joke to the black community in America because it simply
continues to affirm that special decisions have to be made to ensure a
black person or minority person gets a job in that organization. But
when they do, its usually the lowest paying job or one with the lowest
amount of responsibility.
The street I live on is a great example of all three layers of racism and
discrimination coming in to play. Why doesnt Mikell Street in Statesboro
have curbs like almost every other street? Because cities give attention to
streets based on the amount of money the citizens on that street contribute
to the system. So on a street where 90% are blacks (most of whom are
receiving from the welfare system), 5% are Latino, 2.5% are White, and 2.5%
are Philippino, a city is not going to commit their resources equally to my
street as they would in a much more privilege neighborhood of Statesboro.
This is evil, wicked, and unbiblical because God hates favoritism and
partiality. And favoritism and partiality are driven by racism and
discrimination, no matter how much we hate to admit it.
Now undoubtedly, Ive asked a lot of questions and youve had a lot of
answers pop into your head. But heres the point I want to make clear. The
fact that youve had a lot of seemingly justifiable answers pop up in your
head to my questions makes my case that racism and discrimination are
systemic to our culture in the south and to our city here in Statesboro. You
made up answers and exceptions to my questions because you are just as
much affected, or rather infected, by racism and discrimination as I am. Its
in our DNA. But the point Paul made, and the one Im making, is that the
blood of Jesus Christ has changed our DNA. Let me say it in Southern for
you: I aint no white-lovin, nigger-hatin, Jew-hatin, Mexican-hatin
Georgian by birth, and Southern by the grace of God! Im a multi-ethnic
lover, multi-racial lover, multi-color lover, and multi-language lover of red,
yellow, black and white just like my Savior, Jesus Christ! THATS WHO I am
now. All skin colors fade in the blood of Jesus.
God says that ALL Christians are a part of His family. He doesnt
discriminate. He does not show favoritism. He is not partial. He shares His
blessings with everyone, regardless of race or social status. The difficulty,
however, is that since the church is the reflection of Gods blessing on earth,
its awful hard to tell that God is sharing His blessings with every race and
social strata of Statesboro when we still have white churches, black
churches, Latino churches, Korean churches, etc. If they are believers, they
have been made right with God just like I have. And this necessitates hard
work on the part of the church to make the outer look like the inner, to make
our relationships with each other reflect that reality in heaven, to bring black
and white relationships out of our culture and into a living color reality that it

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is supposed to be in the church of God. In other words, its gonna take a lot
of very, very hard work to act out this doctrine of reconciliation in the life of
Church in the Boro when in the deep south where we live social, economic,
and institutional racism and discrimination is still very much part of the DNA
of our culture.
Now, let me switch back to the theology of Ephesians here and take what
Ive just preached to you and drive it a little further. What I dont want you to
miss here is the interplay Paul intends here between the work of Jesus on
behalf of reconciling sinners to God, and the work of Jesus on behalf of
reconciling people to each other. When the blood of Christ brings a Gentile
near to God and into the covenant and promises of God, then that
automatically means that saved Gentile is brought near to the saved Jew as
an inseparable part of the same family.
In other words, the work of Jesus on the cross for each person, regardless of
their race, accomplishes the very same work vertically (in their relationship
with God), and horizontally (in their relationship with each other). And heres
the application I want to give to you this morning.
Jesus Christ died for the church. If you are a believer, you are a part of the
church. When Jesus Christ died for you and everyone else in the church, He
instantly, once-and-for-all brought you and everyone else near to God.
Therefore, when Jesus Christ died for you and everyone else in the church,
He instantly, once-and-for-all brought you all near to each other. His death
united you to Himself, and it also united you to each other. If you are
reconciled to God, then youre equally reconciled to the believer sitting next
to you, as well as to the believer sitting on the other side of this planet from
you right now. Let me break this out from Ephesians 2 for a moment to drive
my point home.

Jewish and Gentile believers have been brought near to God, and
therefore to one another (2:13).

Both races have peace with God, and therefore with one another
(2:14).

The hostility both races have with God has been removed, and so it
has with one another (2:14).

God has nullified His law toward me because of Jesus perfect

obedience, and therefore Gods law toward one another has been
nullified too (2:15).

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God did all these things not only to unite me to Him, but in order to
create a new group of people reconciled and united to each other
(2:16-17).

Jesus preached peace to Jews and Gentiles alike, in order to give them
all an access to the Father, making all Christians, regardless of race,
saints and members of the church of God (2:18-19).

Really, what were saying then is that the second part of our mission
statement here at Church in the Boro - Reconciling People to Each Other is about continuing and deepening our relationships with each other
regardless of sin or skin.
God doesnt let our sin get in the way of our relationship with Him because
Hes forgiven it once and for all. And so we shouldnt let our sin get in the
way of our relationship with each other, because Hes forgiven their sin once
and for all also.
Likewise, God doesnt let our race, as Gentiles, get in the way of our
relationship with Him because Jesus died to bring us into His family. So
neither should we let the race of another person get in the way of our
relationship with them, because Jesus died to bring them into His family also.
To summarize this in a helpful statement: if theyre reconciled to God,
then theyre reconciled to me!

Application to Church in the Boro

Now, in light of these truths, there are five things I want to leave you with
this morning which are key applications for us as a church plant right now.
1. Continue and deepen your relationships with each other
without thought of their past sins or offenses.
If I am reconciled to God and you are reconciled to God then we are
reconciled to each other. Therefore we must act like it.

If I am reconciled to you and you are reconciled to me then we act

like it by relating to each other based on the truth that all our sins
are forgiven.

If all our sins are forgiven then they cant get in the way of our
relationships with each other. Yes, theres repentance involved, but
forgiveness must precipitate all of our relationships, not repentance.

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o Repentance is an ongoing, progressive process. No other

human being can be the standard for success in repentance.
Therefore, no other human being can judge another persons
success in repentance. Thus, repentance from the
perspective or perception of another human being is far more
subjective than it is objective. And it cannot be used as a
measure of continuing or deepening relationships.
o Forgiveness is a once-and-for-all decision, statement, and
conclusion made about another persons sin. God is the
standard for forgiveness. And if He has forgiven another
persons sins, then so ought we. And if Gods relationship
with that person is not hindered because of that sin, then we
should make every effort to see that ours are not either
(stubborn, willful, unrepentance as the exclusion, of course).

Forgiveness does NOT mean

I condone what the other person did.
I approve of what the other person did, said, or
believes.
I accept what they believe as true.

Forgiveness DOES mean

Dealing with an issue head on, ensuring that the
relationship continues in love.
Dealing with unrepentant sin head on, ensuring
that the relationship continues in love.

In the end, it is the knowledge that you forgive that person and still fervently
love and accept them that will foster their repentance. When people feel
that the relationship will be hindered or separated, as it usually happens,
they usually think about their sin or the other persons sin differently. In
other words, the lack of forgiveness and commitment to reconciliation always
clouds a persons perception of other peoples actions, words, and lifestyle.
But when the relationship is soaked and marinated and baptized and
drowned in the blood of Jesus Christ, a fervency of love toward each ensures
that the relationship wont be lost. That blood of Jesus Christ is actually an
oil or lubricant that motivates forgiveness and stimulates faster
reconciliation.
2. Continue and deepen your relationships with each other
without thought of skin color or race.

When Jesus made Jews and Gentiles into one new group (Eph. 2:14),
every tribe, race, and language was included.

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When Jesus reconciled Jews and Gentiles into one body, killing the
hostility that existed between them (Eph. 2:16), there is no reason
in the mind of God in which two Christians of different races ought
not to be reconciled to each other today; especially since all races
have access in one Spirit to the Father (Eph. 2:18).

3. Study how God treats those Hes reconciled to Himself to

know how to treat those whom God has already reconciled to
me.
This means that everything you learn about Gods attitude towards you
is to be the attitude you take towards other people, including
unbelievers. Remember Romans 5:6, 8, and 10. While you were
ungodly, helpless and His enemy, He died for you. Study the love God
has toward you in Christ if you want to know how to love one another.
4. If you have sins, offenses, or issues to clear up with someone
you know youve offended, then stop what youre doing and go
be reconciled with them.
Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:23-24, So if you are offering your gift at
the altar and there remember that your brother has something against
you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to
your brother, and then come and offer your gift. God doesnt want to
accept what you want to give Him if you arent right with one of His
children, with one of your brothers or sisters. Its hard to receive it
from you when He knows you dont want to give it to your own spiritual
flesh and blood.
This is a huge key for some of you right now. In the past you acted out
a desire to glorify God by being jealous for His glory, but you acted it
out in a sinful and prideful way. This unnecessarily offended other
people and actually had the opposite effect of staining the glory of God
in their eyes. So its hard for God to accept the praise and worship and
prayers and Bible reading you do when that other matter hasnt been
cleared up. If you want real freedom and real breakthrough in your life
this morning, get this area right and the heavens will open up to you
and the blessing of God will come down on you like youve never
experienced it before. Do NOT underestimate the power of
reconciliation, nor the blessing and success it brings in your life and
ministry. Listen to Eugene Petersons translation of Isaiah 58:1-12 on
this subject.
1-3

"Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing backa trumpet-blast shout!

Tell my people what's wrong with their lives,

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face my family Jacob with their sins!

They're busy, busy, busy at worship,
and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people
law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?'
and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
'Why do we fast and you don't look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?'
3-5

"Well, here's why:

"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit.

You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
won't get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after:
a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
a fast day that I, God, would like?
6-9

"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:

to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'
9-12

"If you get rid of unfair practices,

quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,

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If you are generous with the hungry

and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

5. If you have been offended with someone elses sin or issue,

then stop what youre doing and go and be reconciled to them.
Jesus flips the coin on the other side in Matthew 18:15-20. In Matthew
5 the focus was on the person who knew they had offended somebody
else. In Matthew 18 the focus is on the person who has been offended
by somebody else. Listen to what Jesus says. If your brother sins
against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If
he listens to you, you have gained your brother. The goal in going to
the person whos hurt you is to gain them, to win them, to be
reconciled to them.
For those of you who have taken offense at what someone else has
done, Jesus challenges you as well. He cannot bless you when you are
holding something against one of His other children. If I could get this
one thought across to you it would be this: Jesus is just as crazy in
love with His other children as He is with YOU! Forget this truth
and you will be held on bondage to bitterness and resentment the rest
of your life. You cannot hold something over the head of another
follower of Jesus when Jesus doesnt hold anything youve done over
your head. So if somebodys done you wrong, drop what youre doing
and go settle it with them, treating them as God has treated you,
dealing with their sin the way God has dealt with your sin. And if they
listen to you about what they did wrong, then youve reconciled
yourself to them and them to you.

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Conclusion
To wrap this up, listen to me closely here on these five application points.
This whole issue of being reconciled to each other is a whole lot bigger than
just you and your problems, you and your enemies, you and your issues. Do
you know why Paul wrote what he did in Ephesians 2 and 3? It was about the
church of God.
You see, the presence and work of Jesus in the church has a greater
dimension of impact on the world than the presence and work of Jesus in
your personal life. You must reconcile yourself to one another because if
you dont, then the church effectively ceases to exist in any real and
effectual way. Who wants to be a part of a family that cant get along with
itself? Who wants to be a part of a church were people are all the time mad
at each other? How can such a church really have an genuine impact on the
world, reconciling sinners to God, if they cant even stay reconciled to each
other. You know what theyll interpret from that? That if we cant stay
reconciled to each other, then how can we stay reconciled to God? You see,
they interpret the gospel by how we behave. If we tell them about
justification by faith, that God declares us no longer guilty before Him, but
then we turn around and hold other people guilty before us, wheres the
consistency that makes people want to be justified by God? Why would I
want to come to your God when you cant get along with the people He
loves?
A Warning From God
Hear this warning from God Himself on this matter.
Do you not know that you are Gods temple and that Gods
Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys Gods temple, God will
destroy him. For Gods temple is holy, and you are that temple
(1 Cor. 3:16-17).
Thats how serious God is about this matter of not being reconciled to each
other. Grouping off into cliques is something foreign to Jesus when He
predestined this whole plan of a church. Not one Christian can come up with
one solid reason as to why they should not be reconciled and unified with
other believers.
Well, theyre just strange folks. Remember, you were strange folks to God,
but He saved you and made you a part of His family.
Well, theyre just not in our socio-economic strata. Well, youre not in
Gods socio-economic strata. He owns the universe and you own a nice
house and a couple of nice cars. He doesnt hold that against you.

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You dont understandso and so has got some serious issues. But from
Gods perspective, so did you before He saved you. And now Hes working
your issues out, just like Hes working out their issues.
Welltheres just no way Im fellowshipping with those Methodists and
Presbyterians and Baptists and Pentecostals. Why? Whatever
denomination you are is just as bad as those!
But Rob, I feel uncomfortable and out of place in a church where Im one of
the only few white people. Then youre gonna feel extremely
uncomfortable around the throne of King Jesus, because in Revelation 5 there
are gonna people there from every skin color and language.
World Evangelism Rests on Racial Reconciliation
My point is that this matter of reconciliation to each other is way, way bigger
than just you and me and our personal issues with other people. This is a
matter of world evangelism. In John 17 we see a prayer that Jesus prayed
then, but one He continues praying right now to this very minute. I do not
ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their
word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,
that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have
sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they
may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may
become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and
loved them even as you loved me (John 17:20-23).
Friends, thats powerful. Thats the most powerful prayer Ive ever read, I
think. Notice the frequent references to being one. And how does that
happen, exactly? Just how does a group of Christians act as one? By being
reconciled to each other.
And did you notice that other phrase Jesus used twice? He basically said that
the reason He wants us to be one, to be reconciled to each other is so that
the world may believe in Jesus, so that the world may know that Jesus is the
Son of God and that God loves them just like He loves Jesus.
So this whole matter of Reconciling People to Each Other is about world
evangelization! Thats how serious this is! Take it that seriously!
I want Church in the Boro to be the answer to the prayer Jesus prays there in
that passage. Let me say that again, loudly, clearly, and slowly.
I

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Want
Church in the Boro
To
Be
THE
Answer
To
The
Prayer
Jesus
Is Praying
Right Now!
Will you work with me to be that answer, so that together we can reconcile
the world to King Jesus? If thats what you want, then we want you here with
us at Church in the Boro.

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